Two New Poetic Pieces
I’ve not been doing much work on my new book recently, but I have
been writing quite a lot of poetic pieces (I’ll soon have enough for a new book). It’s interesting to see how my style is evolving - I already feel like that I’m writing in a different way to the pieces published in The Calm Center. Here are two of my recent pieces.
Love and Attachment
If I’m attached to you, I do not love you.
If I’m attached to you, I add myself to you, like baggage.
You carry me, and eventually I’ll start to weigh you down, to slow you down,
and you’ll start to resent me, and try to put me down.
And the harder you try to offload me, the more I’ll cling to you,
and the heavier I’ll become.
And then we’ll struggle and wrestle, like enemies, not lovers.
But since we love each other, there is no attachment.
I have not added myself to you, I have become a part of you.
We are not fastened together, we are one.
And so we make each other lighter
our footsteps are softer and stronger
and we become wider, since we share each other’s space.
We don’t cling to each other, or resent each other
because
we are each other.
Since I love you, I’m not attached to you - I am you.
The Gift of Presence
When a friend is suffering, don’t feel that you have to comfort them
with words.
Don’t rack your brain for the right advice
searching for the right sentiment, the right phrase and tone.
Don’t feel you have to present a reasoned argument
to help defeat their sorrow.
You don’t need to try - you only need to be.
Don’t give them advice, give them your attention.
Don’t share your wisdom with
them, share your presence.
Listen, and be still, so that your being can connect with theirs,
then let compassion flow from you like a soft quiet stream.
Comfort your friend, not with carefully chosen words
but with the wholeness of your attention
and the purity of your presence.
Comfort them, not with offers or gifts
but
with the soothing, healing radiance of your being.
All best wishes, Steve
