It’s hard to

remember

to live moments joyfully,

to be present

and bask in the day

when the future

grows large

and small

on the distant

horizon of your life,

and the ticking

of time

is audible and loud

in your psyche.

 

And then

you talk to yourself

and say,

“Be still, my friend,

for what will come

will come

[or words to that effect],

and you do

what you

can do

and no more,

for life will be

as it will be.”

 

But In the shifting and

melding face

of uncertainty

you find yourself

strangely disturbed and

at odds with calm,

and into this face

you look but

cannot find the traces

of comforting

equilibrium that you seek.

 

And then the

self-conversation continues:

“Life is ever, and always

will be, a shifting

stream of change,

and nothing is

but what is not;

so find serenity

not in that which

will never be still

but in the presence

of now,

just here with

your living, breathing

feeling, sensuous body,

and be aware of

your mind, distilled

as it is from

gentle curiosity.”

 

But however great the wisdom

the primordial threat

and the ambivalence

remain heavy,

weighing down on

this soul

that wishes for so much,

reducing action to lethargy.

 

“Get through,

my friend,”

I tell myself,

“Get through,

and find in the

the simple act

of living,

the truth:

that there is

only today,

and whatever

comes will

be a new day;

so open

your heart,

and let the

scales fall

from your eyes,

and see the living

that is here on display.”

 

22/7/2016