Dear All,
I hope all is well with you. Following my tradition of Fortnightly Poetic Reflections, here are two recent poetic pieces I’ve written,
which I hope you will enjoy. The first is a kind of companion piece to ‘The Alchemy of Attention’ from The Calm Center. The second is a longer sort of allegorical poem - I hope the meaning of the allegory comes through! As ever, let me know what you think.
The Alchemy of Acceptance
Emptiness can be a bleak vacuum
cold and hostile, dark with danger;
Or emptiness can be a radiant spaciousness
warm and welcoming, soft with stillness -
and the only difference between them is acceptance.
Any task can seem tedious
a chore to rush through as quickly as you can;
Or any task may seem rewarding
a process to relish, with an attentive mind
that reveals more richness, the more present you become -
and the only difference between them is acceptance.
Pain may seem
unbearable
searing through you from a sharp, concentrated point
so that you have no choice but to resist
to try to escape, or to push away the pain;
Or pain can be a sensation
which you can move towards and merge with
which no longer has a centre, and dissipates and spreads through your being
until it becomes soft and numb, no longer a pain at all -
and the only difference between them is acceptance.
Trauma and turmoil can break you down to nothing
destroy the identity you spent your whole life building up
like an earthquake that leaves you in ruins;
Or trauma and turmoil can transform you
break open new depths and heights of you
give rise to a greater structure, a miraculous new self -
and the only difference between them is
acceptance.
Life can be frustrating, and full of obstacles
with desires for a different life constantly disturbing your mind;
or life can be fulfilling, full of opportunities
with a constant flow of gratitude for the gifts you have,
and the only difference between them is acceptance.
The Forest
The forest is dark and dangerous -
you’ve always been warned to stay away from it
never to step inside that deep shadowy mass of
trees.
They say that the forest is so thick that sunlight never touches its soil
and so wild and dense that no one ever finds their way back out again.
They say that there are animals, wolves and bears prowling hungrily
and other stranger creatures, ghostly shapes and shades
lurking in the darkness.
And you’ve sensed it in
the past,
when curiosity got the better of you, and you glanced inside:
a melee of shifting sounds and shapes
the jostling of a thousand different forms
an unfamiliar darkness and coldness
full of strange forces and energies.
And even though you try to close your ears
at night you can hear the murmurings
of those sinister forest creatures.
So you spend your life outside the forest
skirting its edges, watching your steps,
looking
in the other direction, using all your ingenuity to divert yourself
trying to forget that you’re always in its shadow.
You tell yourself that you’re safe here, on the perimeter,
but you can never rest, or even relax.
You have to keep walking, uneasily, shiftily.
When you stop you feel vulnerable
afraid that somehow the
forest will capture you.
But listen closely:
those sounds aren’t the whispers of ghosts, or the howls of animals;
it’s the voice of your deepest self, calling you,
yearning to bring you back home
telling you that it’s time to turn inside
and find out who you are.
Step inside the forest, tentatively -
at first you might be startled by the crazy teeming mass of life
the swirl of unfamiliar noises,
the wrinkled twisted barks and stretching branches,
and feel desperate to step back to safety.
But don’t turn back - be curious and courageous.
This is only a surface discord, like roaring waves above the stillness of the sea.
A few steps further in and a hush will suddenly descend.
The forest has its own silence
so powerful that it can contain any noise, without being disturbed.
That silence will engulf you and enter you
and spread slowly through your being, like a soft foaming mist.
And the deeper you go, the more stillness you’ll sense -
an atmosphere of ease, an energetic calmness,
a sentience that both soothes and enlivens.
And finally, right at the heart of the forest,
you’ll find an open space, a
golden glade of lush grass
where sunlight streams down from a clear still sky.
This is the core, where the roots of every tree meet,
which gives sustenance to the whole forest.
And this is where you can lie down and rest,
free of fear, in perfect ease,
at the radiant source of being.
And then you’ll wonder
why
you were ever afraid of yourself.
All best wishes, Steve
