staying present through simple nowness

"When repeated difficulties do arise,
our first spiritual approach is to acknowledge what is present, naming,
softly saying 'sadness, sadness', or 'remembering, remembering', or whatever"
~Jack Kornfield


the nature of good poetry, or what makes
for a good piece of music can only be
found in the moment of focusing
with laser hawk eyes, clear elephant ears......

conversely, my friend, when those rough
spots appear, seemingly from some
faraway plot to undo the very thing
we harnessed to create--we simply

stop in our present tracks, mud
drying on a dime in the harsh sun-
and call that backsliding by name
eyes closed- the last of the roses

come flying, as the moon rises gold--
a story impossible to be told
when processing too much information
letting the scene be clean of excess

the simple soothes the purpose
of stillness, sorting laundry
allowing lessons to burst forth
among autumn flowers

leaving the tired pushing
breathing in the rose hips
what is arising
all the time

we simply
stay still
quiet,
and breathe

words/rose hips photo-kate lamberg (c) '15