Sunday, December 12, 2010

the work


life
in this world
can be
like so many fingers

and as you know

those fingers

- sometimes tiny and soft
sometimes bony and hard -

can pull gently and kindly
and sometimes very insistently
at the fabric
of your self

they stretch your very fibres
until every so often
the world
as you have created it
is suddenly
and almost inexplicably
undone

and if you keep your eyes open
in that moment
of undoing

you'll see
that the air
of your knowing
is suddenly
and beautifully
filled
with coloured filaments
dancing
spinning
and turning

and if you watch them
closely
you'll see
in their movement
that they are searching
for form

it's a purposeful dance
that resolves
as some sort of
coalescence
or aggregation
that says
"this is me"

or perhaps

"this is
recognizably
my self
as i imagined
i might be"

and at the centre of that dance
of whirling filaments

your soul

gathers
its edges

gains its worldly form

moves

and then
truly

moves on

again

10 comments:

hope said...

Just the right post to get me moving toward the happy spirit of Christmas again. Thank you.

Pauline said...

I've copied this and tacked it on the bulletin board near my computer. It's worth reading every day. The photos? Gorgeous as always. Thanks, Steven!

Friko said...

Words to lift the soul and heart and spirt.

Dan Gurney said...

Our bodies are but a dance of molecules temporarily spinning together as us as long as the dancer calls the dance.

Helen said...

... even broken fingers mend. Lovely poem!

Dejemonos sorprender said...

Hola.. beautiful pictures.. and words are really nice.. thanks:)
Have a nice week..

steven said...

thankyou for the thoughtful and generous comments.
the ebb and flow of life is compelling stuff for me. i'm glad you're all a part of it and that i in turn am a part of yours. steven

Jo said...

What a beautiful new banner!

I especially love the title of this poem, Steven. I had to go back to refer to it a few times, but of course, it makes perfect sense.

It is a purposeful dance...and joyous and beautiful,too, when we allow ourselves to surrender to it.

Many thanks for this feast of thought today.

steven said...

thankyou jo. that photograph was taken yesterday as i biked along a snowy trail through a nearby swamp. i saw this little scene and loved the faded gold and the red. the little berry. the snow.
i'm so glad you could make sense of my writing. i have a busy internal dialogue and there's some thing of it that surfaces in my writing here. thanks for your kind and thoughtful comment. steven

Cheryl Cato said...

Funny I can see the filaments swirling outward in slow motion and reconvening into yet another form. Beautiful words Steven. Thank you.