A Deliberate Pause

I walked past the newsstand down a quiet brick lane until I reached a pocket park. Finding a low wooden bench shaded by an overhanging branch, I set aside my notebook and pen to rest my feet. Beside me lay three fallen pinecones and an empty wooden spool dropped by a passerby. Instead of measuring or straightening them immediately, I simply leaned back against the sun-warmed slat and watched a pair of sparrows hop across the paving stones. Taking an unstructured pause felt surprisingly refreshing.