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Thursday, May 18, 2017

I Come Here for Hope

Laying on the floor
of my walk-in closet,
it is the darkest
quietest
place in my house.

Between boxes and
piles of dirty shoes,
I lay myself down
listen to myself breathe
and pretend
I am all alone.

I come here for hope.

I know there is a way
out of the present morass
but I can’t see it
in the light of day.

I need the comfort
of the dark
where any obstacles
are hidden.

Here,
I am limitless
and aware of my
connection to all
living things:

I don’t see
where
one thing ends
and the next thing

begins.

I open my eyes so wide
they hurt, but all I see
is the monolithic,
unanswering
black.

It reminds me that
there is no me
and there no you
and there is even
no us.

It’s all one infinite
interconnected
experience,
and since it cannot
turn back on itself,

there is only one way
it will all turn out
but I can’t see it
right now,

and I like it that way.

[Posted for Open Link Night at https://dversepoets.com/2017/05/18/openlinknight-196/]

14 comments:

  1. I have never thought of this way until I had to really face the light...

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  2. I like it that way too...for now...

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  3. I love this! I, too, have spent many hours on that walk-in closet floor, trying to make sense of the world and reveling in the simplicity the cool floor in the small space provides.

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  4. Wow. Great poem. I especially like this stanza:
    "I open my eyes so wide
    they hurt, but all I see
    is the monolithic,
    unanswering
    black."

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  5. Sometimes we would really rather not see, sometimes at night when I can't sleep I just breathe in the darkness and the silence.

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  6. you offer that ray of hope (if not light) in the dark, Mosk. ~

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  7. I wish I had a walk-in closet.

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  8. We all need to find that quiet, comforting space...i'm afraid dirty, smelly shoes would distract me ;)

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  9. I love the way you ended this with a twist.

    This is my favorite stanza:

    "I open my eyes so wide
    they hurt, but all I see
    is the monolithic,
    unanswering
    black."

    I used to do this too, but it's been years since I had a walk-in closet.

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  10. Anonymous2:34 PM

    Even though I still carry a bit of my childhood fear of the dark, there are moments (recently), when even I would use that space if it were available.

    Elizabeth

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  11. I like the dark sometimes too. It's less distracting, unless I trip over the cat on my way in. :)

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  12. I really like this whole piece in particular this:

    "It reminds me that
    there is no me
    and there no you
    and there is even
    no us.

    It’s all one infinite
    interconnected
    experience,
    and since it cannot
    turn back on itself,

    there is only one way
    it will all turn out
    but I can’t see it
    right now,

    and I like it that way."

    Might I suggest we can never see how it turns out because there are always infinite possibilities for how the 'we' who are not 'we' might unfold? Herein lies life's great Koan. To do or to be? or maybe just do be do be do ;)

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  13. There are places we can go to contemplate the most serious of worries and feelings. Sometimes it need to be dark so we can see what is inside us better.

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  14. we all have our darkest closet moments. and we need those

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