Sage Advice

“Be here,
be now.”
What does that mean?
Where?? How??

A difficult feat for the multi-tasker.
One thing at a time
Spells disaster.
I can do more, faster and faster.

Body moving on auto-pilot.
Mind traveling,
through time and space.
Spirit in yet another place.

Skillful escape
from the dull and mundane
Whether in, or out
of the throbbing pain.

The present moment
moves slow as molasses
Thick. Dark. Suffocating.
Oddly sweet, nauseating.

I feel discomfort
So ill when at ease.
Enough of the stillness
my left brain pleads.

“Take a moment
and breath in deep.”
Then unused muscles
ache for a week.

It hurts my chest
way up to my shoulder
Filling my stomach
with air like a boulder.

Sending up flames
where quiet fires smolder
I prefer shallow breathing
even if I feel colder.

“Don’t worry, have faith.”
Don’t worry, I’m not.
I’m just totally preoccupied
by this damn little spot.

If I cry because I’m scared
Does that mean I lack faith?
Or am I honoring my feelings?
I can’t keep it straight.

Speaking of “feelings,
not right or wrong,
they just are,”
goes the song.

Still I scramble to find my footing
I teeter and I totter
Between feeling my feelings
And smothering as they’re hotter.

Should I keep my mind right?
Hold tight to my bravado?
Is that The Secret
to a happy tomorrow?

Should I celebrate my tears?
or shove them away?
What is the answer?
Maybe I should “pray.”

Sage advice,
gently given to me
The power of prayer,
a great mystery.

And it’s a novel idea,
me talking to You.
I rarely think of it myself.
It’s crazy, but true.

How do I do it?
My thoughts a riotous mess.
And hearing the small, still voice?
An impossible quest.

But “God is,
and all is well.”
This the one thought
between me and Hell.

You’re the master Spin Master
Who can make two wrongs right.
Wrapping each darkness
with loving light.

Holding me tenderly
through the long night
Even when I struggle
with all of my might.