waking world « John David Higham

The
Day before
The
Day before,
As
I sat in my den
On
My meditation pillow,
A
Deer visited
Me
During my daily card reading.

A
Totem
Of
Gentle heroism,
Of
Tenderness
And
Patience,
It
Eased into my soul.

“Be gentle to you,”
She
Said as she stood
In
My mind’s eye.

Gentleness:
Patience
Fully embraced,
Love
Sprinkled with tact.

Ah, love!
The
Same morning ritual
Directed
Me to embrace
The
Overflowing Chalice,
The
Endless gifts of love,
Its
Eternal power
To
Heal, bond, evolve.

“Why, of course,”
I
Reasoned to myself,
“This
Is how I live!”
These
Cards were affirmations
And
Nothing more.

Oh, that
Day
Before
The
Day
Before
Soon
Brought upon my path
So
Many varieties
Of
Frustration
(From
Both self and others)
As
I felt my pulsing rising
With
Self-blaming
At
Not having accomplished
All
I had set out to do,
All
I had determined to do,
All
That had to complete.

Frustration
Upon
Frustration
Built
As calls went unanswered,
Things
Broken stubbornly refused repair,
And
All plans slowly froze
Into
A crescendo of nagging inertia
And
Incompleteness
As
Too many clocks kept ticking.

Those cards, reminders
Of
That morning’s contemplation,
Sat
Near my meditation pillow
And
My peripheral eyes
Did
Catch sight of them
As
I hurried past in the hall.

Instead
Of giving myself
Into
Further disappointment
Or
Allowing assertiveness
To
Flare into self-aggression,
I
Stopped.
I
Stopped
And
Sat on the meditation pillow.
I
Meditated
And
Recalled the lessons
Of
The overflowing chalice
And
The still deer.

Thus reminded
Of
Myself beyond
The
Niggling waking world,
I
Allowed myself
To
Be an imperfect human
And
Feel rejoice (AGAIN)
In
The perfect gifts
Of
Love and gentleness.

Embracing laughter,
I
Visited my logic
And
Realized
I had accomplished
Much;
I had done all
That
I could given
All
That filled my path.

I must endeavor
To
Allow myself
To know
Love and gentleness
As
Lasting gifts
From
The
Day before
The
Day before.

Time and opportunity
Hounded me
With
Their draining energy
This afternoon.
Too much of each,
Too many options:
What to do?
What to do?
What to do?

Possibilities intrigued
Then
Overwhelmed me
While
A beautiful day
Tried
Seducing me
Into
Mowing the lawn.

On meditation pillows
In a half lotus
In my den
I meditated:
A lizard
Soon
Traveled into
My Mind’s Eye.

The lizard told me
Not to mow the grass
And
Not to do paperwork
And
Not to run errands.

“Sleep,” she said,
“And visit the dream world.”

So, I did.

There, I lived
On a town’s street
I had lived
Many times previous
In
The dream world
And
For a decade
Or so
In the waking world.

It had snowed
So much
That
Several feet
Of
Thick, heavy drifted snow
Covered
Everything
On the cold afternoon.

I shouted playfully
Trying
To
Make avalanches
Tumble off
My house’s roof;
The place a Victorian.

With wonder
With glee,
I
Watched those dislodged chunks
Become
Low clouds until
They
Plopped on my front yard.

Amused
As
I was
By
My discovered ability
To
Clear my roof
Of its burden,
Bill the neighbor
Amused
Me
Even more
By
Shuffling his feet
And
Pumping his arms
While
Pretending to be a train
On
His way to visit
A
Neighbor’s house
Up
The street.

I awoke smiling,
Knowing
Two worlds had again become one
With symbols assembled
Into
A resonating idiosyncratic moment
Of
Past’s present into present into future’s past
In
Non-linear metaphysical art.

“What, Lizard,”
I asked,
“Does it all mean?”

Lizard, who had been basking
On
My deck in the sun
Smiled.
“It means you didn’t mow the grass
Because
You were clearing off your roof.”

I laughed because she was right.
My head was cleared
Like
The roof
And
I could again embrace bliss
In
The waking world…

John David Higham

Empathic Perspective

Tag Archives: waking world

Love and Gentleness (The Day Before the Day Before)

The Lizard, the Snow, and Bill the Neighbor: An Afternoon Dream