Allowing the Journey, Part 2

 

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I cannot “allow my feet to carry me . . .” 

to soul time.  I lie.  If I had to rely on
my feet—or my legs, more precisely—I would go
nowhere.  But give me six feet per line of meter
and I travel.  And when I take time to journey
toward openness en-route to wholeness, I could
be sitting still, dancing, writing, praying, even
watching a performance, listening to a song
or floating in water, and driving east toward sun-
up or driving west toward sunset.  But the word
“allow” is true, and so very hard.  Allowing
action is easier than the waiting involved
in journeying to soul. The trick is to allow
distractions—particularly sensual  ones. 
Yes.  This isn’t meditation nor is it making
lists.  Instead, let sense engage the environment.

           No, not common sense—though that, too, can help—
but several senses: The sensations of smelling
and tasting, touching (and being touched). 
The sensations of hearing, seeing, moving, approaching,
parting, joining and rushing and slowing all provide
soul time and space.  Surprise!  Journey time!  Allowing
control to rest, waiting to cease effort, and invitations
to open and—without seeking—find.  

          Once upon a time I sighed, stretched back and arms,
sighed again and turned right, then left, and grounded my
feet and stood and marveled at earth rising to meet me
through two floors of apartments, marveled at the
shape of limbs and the torso that joined them—
locomotion and touching-taking-giving and thinking-
wondering-hungering and remembering times these
appendages were engaged.  What a piece of work is woman: 

 “How noble in reason,
how infinite in faculty, In form
and moving how express and admirable,
In action how like an Angel,
In apprehension how like a god,
The beauty of the world, The paragon
of animals. And yet to me, what is
this quintessence of dust?”

            Dust unless (unlike Hamlet) we walk with all animals like angels and ghosts, we root with all plants and all minerals: part of a whole and journeying by eating and going about the daily tasks we’ve set for ourselves with wonder and expectations and words and joy and anger and all the tools we need to live.
            Whew.  
            Are you with me?  

            That is spirit coming through, that is soul time, that is creativity.

My blog poems are rough drafts.

Please respect my copyright.

© 2023 Susan L. Chast