Love Is the Present: Revised

Love Is the Present

They are the chosen ones

who have surrendered.

~Rumi

I forget if I don’t take notes.  

Two thoughts escaped an hour ago, before I found

paper and pen. They’re gone. 

This may be the beginning

of living in the present—of living precisely

now, without drifting into the past.

When my elderly librarian friend

found this present, she beamed in smiles

that embraced me with her inner fire.

I’d bring a chair and the two books she’d kept

to her bedside. After a moment of silence, I'd ask

“What would you like to hear?”  

And she’d laugh, “It doesn’t matter.” She’d say,

“I hear as if for the first time, and fall

in love again.”  In the now.

I can’t imagine not missing the past,

that vast depository of  lessons

I carry.  So much weight.

I spend time writing, sorting and divesting

to free my soul. What books will I—will you—

keep as companions for the road?

💟💟💟💟💟

“But you don’t believe in staying in the present, and you don’t believe in surrender.”

“Believe, know.  What do they mean?  Without resisting, we lose perspective.  Without the past, we cannot learn from our mistakes.  But what if the grass truly is greener on the other side?  Surrendering to the love of God has made my life more tolerable.  What could drifting in the present do?  Could every impression be new?  Could every meeting have unlimited possibility?”  Could love be the present?

source

They are the chosen ones
who have surrendered.
Once they were particles of light
now they are the radiant sun. 

~Rumi 

I forget if I don’t take notes. Two thoughts escaped
an hour ago, before I found paper and pen. They’re gone.

This may be the beginning of living in the present.
O! To live precisely now, without drifting into the past!

When my elderly librarian friend found this present,
she beamed in smiles that embraced me with her inner fire.

I pulled a chair and a treasured few books over to her.
After our moment of silence, I asked “What should I read?”

And she laughed. “Read anything,” she glowed. “I hear it as if
for the first time, and fall in love over again.” O! Now.

I spend time writing, sorting and divesting to free my soul.
What books will I—will you—keep as companions for the road?

source

For Sumana's prompt

Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Love

My blog poems are rough drafts.

Please respect my copyright. 

© 2019 Susan L. Chast