WORDS LIKE LIGHT 

Wednesday, September 22, 2021

IRRESISTIBLE

            There is only one truly irresistible force in my life – the eternal present. Other powers come and go, arise and disappear, seem strong and then dwindle down, but the present is always irrepressibly steady. It’s constantly and permanently right here, right now. There’s no way for me to escape from the Present. (The uppercase ‘P’ seems appropriate.) And if it’s always here, then it’s infinite – without boundaries, limitless. There’s no place where the Present doesn’t exist and have power. The past and future may seem to have separate, persuasive existences, but the truth is that nothing exists – or has power – but the inexorable Present. No doubt it would be good for me to stop resisting this unavoidable, imperative force. It is right here, right now, in all its enchanting ways. The compelling Present is holy ground. Perhaps, like Moses (Exodus 3:5), I should take off my shoes. 

FINDING THE PRESENT 

One day, 
a man found the present. 
It had prepared itself for him 
by holding its usual lights
in its lighthearted way, 
and waving to him 
like it loved him, 
as it always has. 
He held its hand, 
and all of life
lifted up and let itself loose
inside him and out to the stars. 
He stood in silence
and a new and endless sky spread out,
and then another,
and another. 

* below, a scene from Delycia’s garden yesterday – a sparrow atop a sedum blossom, while St. Francis quietly contemplates the birdbath *

And some scenes from a lovely walk yesterday on the Beebe Pond Trail in Groton …