“To be at rest…”

“To be at rest
Inner stillness in spite of external chaos
Like sitting down for a cup of tea
In the midst of a hectic day
Like closing one’s ears to the city traffic
And hearing unearthly strains of music
A child’s tantrum dissolving
In the warmth of its mother’s embrace
I need to know this rest.
The world is unsteady underfoot
I feel the danger of toppling
The sand shifts beneath me
My frantic thoughts drive away peace
Yet there is a promise of rest
It fills the air
I taste it, breathing deeply
And the ground is steady once again
Like a rock beneath my feet
And strangely, in spite of circumstances
I find myself in rest.”

Date: September 17, 2004
Location: 1825 Haight St., San Francisco

In San Francisco I lived in a house with easily over a dozen people in it. There came those times when I needed to clear my head of the clutter, noise, and busyness simply to find rest. One morning I woke up earlier than the majority of the household, made myself a cup of tea, and sat down to drink it by the windows in the back of the house. My view was a parking lot, but in the corner of the parking lot was a tree. She was deciding to change her foliage early and so I was blessed with a preview of autumn’s splendour in her coloured leaves. And as I enjoyed the early morning stillness, this poem was birthed.

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