Field Notes #14

A Contemplative's Field Guide

EL SUEÑO (LA NOCHE DE LOS POBRES), Diego Rivera

“It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey.” -Wendell Berry

FIELD NOTES #14

All it takes is a push.
Before you know it,
you're tumbling into space.
Where up is down,
north is south,
and direction is a fiction.
Forwards, backwards.
Left, right.
No compass or maps
to set you right,
only the inkling
you're where you need to be:

	in the middle of the ocean
	you're either drowning
	or you're free.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

Squirming like an inchworm
you settle down to sleep.

I envy your ease.

The way you close your eyes,
smile, and without a second thought
allow yourself to dream.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

You open one eye 
and study the gentle rise
	of his belly— 
a sure sign of life,
enough to send you back to sleep,
content that all is well.
Of course, in ten minutes
you'll do the same,
and the ten after that,
until at last, 
your old and gray,
and sitting by your bed,
he watches for that same 
	gentle rise,
dreading the day 
he opens his eyes
and finds your body still.

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