discipline the day

Remembering that peace can rise
from no movement, from
a stretched-out body
and no fuss, the ears
tuned to music, the
occasional eye-flicker at
a mute TV showing silent
companionable pictures
of a world both near
and far - and a book
in hand, all chores bound,
can produce freedom
from its pages: a
small, quiet space
the heart can sit at ease.

I'd forgotten the delicate
still vibration of an
unmoving moment - always
worried at the undone,
the unscored, the waiting
tasks that make one so tired -

to turn-down the dial
turn-off the fire
and sit
takes discipline amid
a world of fume and ire -

ignore the clamour
and the traffic of the day
let yourself the peace
to lie away.

My heart so full of
gratitude it is a body-
pain, the calm still pool
of rippling water, gentle
to its edge
turns in and back
on itself moving slowly
and cooling as the sun goes down.

The miles may separate us
but we are not alone.

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