Everything is Waiting for You
Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice. You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice. You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.
Put down the weight of your aloneness
and ease into the conversation.
The kettle is singing even as it pours you a drink,
the cooking pots have left their arrogant aloofness
and seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.
-- David Whyte**
from Everything is Waiting for You
©2003 Many Rivers Press
from Everything is Waiting for You
©2003 Many Rivers Press
and Whyte points out that like any relationship, "Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity", the reciprocal attention we give to open the dialogue. When one walks in the world with that sense, just listening.......one cannot be arrogant in the assumption of "aloneness".
**Listen to the Interview:
The Conversational Nature of Reality - David Whyte interview with Krista Tippet on Onbeing.org.
(http://www.onbeing.org/program/david-whyte-the-conversational-nature-of-reality/8560/audio?embed=1)
