It comes softly
It does not come with thunder
It comes with soft rain in the night
It
is startling only in its calm
It gives no
warning, it just arrives, a light breeze that is all
It
walks over lily pads, like a cat in the grass
It
curls up in a warm spot on the threshold and waits
It
does not knock, you find it there when you return,
It lets you in!
It
moves like sunlight through dust, through all your shadows
It moves like a glove polishing whatever it touches
And settles by the fire as if it were a winter’s
night
And smiles like hot
chocolate
Nothing seems disturbed, as if it had always been
there
Some piece of
familiar furniture
Yet it isn’t
It changes shape
It sits on the mantle
It lingers over the
stove
It becomes childlike and
hides under the table
It can walk in the
dark and not step in the puddles
Or lose its way
Unassuming as air, it breaths life into old wounds
And heals them
It does not speak
much
Yet like sleep it gives
voice to dreams
And smells like a fresh brewed
morning
Each day it
proceeds a quietly as the roots of a tree
It grows reaching further
and further
Taking hold with the most
delicate, invisible fingers
I do not seem to mind this
That is its gift
It makes room where there
was no room
It takes up no space, it
provides it
It does not need a
closet
It’s the same old shirt I
always wear
Yet it is a new
wardrobe of possibilities
In a place I’ve never been
I’m not surprised,
I’m grateful
Grateful for the ease with
which it comes and goes
But never leaves and never
hurries
Grateful for the company
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I work undisturbed, building, repairing, improving
It watches, lifting expectations to realizations
Building along side
me a daily pattern without walls
I do not question this
I trust its
judgement
And its careful, thoughtful
attention to detail
There is no rush
There is nowhere to go
This is here now
And it makes the best of it,
better
I cannot be sure how this happens
It is so slight a thing
Who can say what
day or hour
We move from one season to
another
But we know we have
It is like that
Something
altogether natural
I do not even think to
qualify it
It does not occur
to me to try to understand it
I leave thinking out of it
And that is a relief
I sit in silence
With all the years of
misgivings wrapped about me
And seem unworried
Or discouraged
As if I’d lost all fear of
life
And can finally just get on
with living
Certain that grief
is never distant
Certain that disappointment
never vanishes from human effort
And that sorrow and regret
may always haunt us
But so what!
Love walks over the face of
these reflections
And does not even make a
ripple
It merely takes a bath.