Pause a Moment

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“Your job is to find what

the world is trying to be…”

—William Stafford, The Darkness

Around Us Is Deep

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Pause a moment—

And put down the cup of

Coffee and listen to what

I’m going to say…

On the other hand—

Turn away and pretend

You know more than me

And you probably do…

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I know nothing—

Except this and it’s

Totally unique to me…

What more can I say?

Standing here listening—

To the quiet that invites

Me to turn my face

Away from myself…

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Waiting for the moment—

The timing is everything…

When something in the

Night speaks to me…

It will touch me—

From that Dark Place

That is the gift inside

Me down deep…

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I can only say this once—

But then even once still

Isn’t enough because it

Happens only once…

There’s this little kinda—

Excursion and evasion

That poets have to do—

To know themselves