What we see and know is always only partial.
The unseen we invest with assumptions we dress as truth.
To judge another—such a weighty, preposterous act,
none of us worthy to undertake.
Awareness is not full knowing, but rather
knowing that we don’t know much at all.
To live in bliss is to accept myself and others
at face value, allowing for the mystery lying beneath.
And you stand on some mountain road weeping.
--From
“The Face in the Toyota” by Robert Bly
Why the weeping? Is it loss of the dreams
for life and love held close in younger years,
or tears shed when what seems
transcendent disappoints?
Life’s reality, either way,
is different than expected.
Loss is a part of life,
but bitter still, even when accepted. We hope
for the dream but it plays
out incomplete
or not at all. Better to
look
closer in, to find joy in
smaller things, in the
present moment. Joy
persists, though at times, unexpected,
the dreams will resurface,
their own persistence
bringing tears for what was not.
Only in snatches of thought, brief
moments when emotion cracked
the thick shell of duty, did I
consider escape. To walk away
wasn’t reasonable and I fed
reason with my life. Cracks, however,
have a way of growing, often
imperceptibly, until one day
things break wide open.
When it happened, reason
reached for the spackle, but
emotion said, “No. It is time
to live,” and soul
poured through the cracks,
free.
