At the Window

I was at the window

when a fly near the latch

was on its back spinning—

legs furious, going nowhere.

I thought to swat it

but something in its struggle

was too much my own.

It kept spinning and began to tire.

Without moving closer, I exhaled

steadily, my breath a sudden wind,

and the fly found its legs,

rubbed its face

and flew away.

I continued to stare at the latch

hoping that someday, the breath

of something incomprehensible

would right me and

enable me to fly.

A Question to Walk With: Describe a time when you felt a sense of inexplicable assistance from the Universe.

Recently, Sounds True published a major collection of my poetry, The Way Under the Way, which contains three separate books of poetry, gathering 217 poems retrieved and shaped over the past twenty years. These poems span my life’s journey and they center on the place of true meeting that is always near, where we chance to discover our shared humanity and common thread of Spirit. The above poem is from the book.

*photo credit: Sivakumar B