This world is a fashion show.
You put on that dress, that suit,
and strut
down the runway,
Fully believing the costume is you, is truth,
but over time that style you so invest in becomes silly,
past tense, like those 1980s shoulder pads
you only laugh at today.
Then it’s onto the next style.
“This one will save me,” a quiet voice inside says.
“This one adorns me so well,
it fulfills me and makes people admire me.”
But slowly its pinching waistband
and unflattering shape
are exposed
until you shed that frock as well.
New style after new style come and go like the years
until one day, most lie dead on the floor,
any hope of deliverance gone
in their thread-bare uselessness.
It’s that day, when you stand naked,
that the One appears.
And you see those styles as frivolous adornments
that could never nurture you.
For the singular truth is you.
Standing bare
in the shimmering Love
that you are.
Exactly what I felt on that first meeting in San Diego, on that sunny day. I listened to the most eloquent words that described every feeling I had felt, but could not express at the time. Felt like standing Naked with no shame and so FREE,The Imagery that accompanied those words, dug up from the deepest places within me. My breathing now relaxed for the first time, homeostasis balanced, neutral, Perfect inflow and outflow. This is why I was born.
Wow, Ben, your comment gave me goosebumps! So beautifully said. We are totally free in the nakedness, and it is “dug up from the deepest places,” beyond anything we could have ever imagined. And, yes, it is WHY we are here. Thank you!
Perfect imagery, so simply expressed, for the graced experience of self recognition.
I have missed receiving your poems, dipping back into the books instead, understanding from my own now very infrequent posts how withdrawal inward takes precedence.
Thank you, Niki. I’m glad you resonated with the poem, and yes, I too am recognizing the importance of that inward withdrawal. I do look forward to your next post, whenever that may be!
Thank you Lesley; after my morning meditation for Gratitude and Bliss and a quiet peaceful walk along the river your words resonated to my life today.
What a lovely morning routine you have, John. Sounds so peaceful and lovely. I’m happy that this little offering was a part of it!