The Tone in the Center of the Bell

No matter where you look—

near, far, up, down, out or in—

there is a bareness of being that

lives in the center of every ounce

of life, the way air waits inside

every bubble as it rises from

the deep. The way a small

pocket of worth waits inside

every attempt to love. The way

wonder waits in the center

of our heart for something to

wake it. The tone keeps ringing

in the center of the bell, long after

our ears stop hearing it. Whether

we know this or not, this is how

life moves through the living,

how light makes a branch grow

toward it. How a stream draws

a horse to drink from it.

How you draw me to ask

what it is to be you.

A Question to Walk With: Listen to a sound that calls to you long after it has left the range of your hearing and describe your sense of where that sound has gone.

This is the title poem from my book of poems, The Tone in the Center of the Bell.

Join me at my new 5-session online Master Class, The Gift of Deepening and the Radiance in All Things, coming up August 28 – September1. I am also offering a free reading and conversation on September 11th. If you feel led, you can learn more at Live.MarkNepo.com.