On Meditation

My mind is a whirlwind.  Swirling bits of gravel and grit, pulling at my attention with their pings and their stings.. Ever leaning towards that whip-up.

But still I carry on with this practice, for in the midst of the swirl I remember my breath and I pull back to the rise and fall and the blessed sound of silence.  It is in those moments of nothing that is comes through; a word, an image, a torrent bursting through the dam -- a holiness all my own.

It is there in stillness that I remember how to dance and how to sing and sometimes how to shout up to the rafters and bring the whole goddamned place down.  Sometimes it's easier than others.  Sometimes no silence can be found.  Still I stand here in the whirlwind and command those swirling bits to ground.

Artwork: "Ellipsis" by Dan Hiller