If you asked for a few words of comfort andguidance I would quickly kneel by your sideand offer you a whole book … — Hafez, from “Companion for LIfe,” Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems, eds. Phyliis Cole-Davis & Ruby R. Wilson (Grayson Books, 2017)
I want you to look again and again,to recognize the tender grasses,curled like a baby’s fine hairsaround your fingers, as a recurringmiracle, to see that the river rocksshine like God, that the crispvoices of the orange and goldOctober leaves are laughing at death. — Rebecca Baggett, from “Testimony,” Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness… Continue reading Rebecca Baggett
And his eyes are far away, and your tearsAre all down your face and clothes,And he doesn’t see them now, but smilesPerhaps, just perhaps, because you’re there.How little he needs. Just love. More Love. — Christopher Wiseman, from “Bedside Manners,” Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems, eds. Phyliis Cole-Davis & Ruby R. Wilson… Continue reading Christopher Wiseman
If we were not so-single-mindedabout keeping our lives movingand for once could do nothing,perhaps a huge silencemight interrupt this sadnessof never understanding ourselvesand of threatening ourselves with death. Perhaps the earth can teach usas when everything seems deadand later proves to be alive. — Pablo Neruda, from “Keeping Quiet,” transl. Alastair Reid, Poetry of Presence:… Continue reading Pablo Neruda
You must learn one thing.The world was made to be free in. Give up all the other worldsexcept the one to which you belong. Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweetconfinement of your alonenessto learn anything or anyonethat does not bring you aliveis too small for you. — David Whyte, “Sweet Darkness,” Poetry of Presence:… Continue reading David Whyte
Consider the white spacebetween words on a page, not justthe margins around them. Or the space between thoughts:instants when the mind is inventingexactly what it thinks and the mouth waitsto be filled with language.Consider the space between lovers after a quarrel,the white sheet a cold metaphorbetween them. — Linda Pastan, from “Consider the Space Between… Continue reading Linda Pastan
All day you’ve been linked bythe light, but now that darkness gathers the world in a great black tide,your shadow joins the sea of all other shadows.If you stand here long enough, you, too, will forget your linesand merge with the tall grass and old trees, with the crows and theflooding river—all these pieces of… Continue reading Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
But the mind alwayswants more than it has–one more bright day of sun,one more clear night in bedwith the moon; one more hourto get the words right; onemore chance for the heart in hidingto emerge from its thicketin dried grasses–as if this quiet daywith its tentative light weren’t enough,as if joy weren’t strewn all around.… Continue reading Holly J. Hughes
The Vale of Soul-Making 