Sky and Water

 Sky and Water

and when I looked into
the space between,
the silence,
the emptiness,
the infiniteness,
where nothing seems
or has ever seemed
out of place,
I think of two friends –
Sky and Water
who are together, yet apart,
changeless, and yet changed
as they follow their course
and mirror their stories
in the space between

and beyond.

Reflections

and while the rivers rushed
and the seas danced
in an unfathomable reverie,
I quietly held a mirror
for the sky, the clouds,
the sun, the stars,
the moon, the mountains,
and the trees
with their flowers;
and I realised
that was the only way
I could find
and see myself -
with you, in you.

Mirror to the Blind

of what use
is a mirror
to the blind,
who sees
the world
with her heart,
not with eyes
that linger upon
form and colour,
beginnings
and endings
flaws
and glories;

of what use
is a mirror
to the one
who wants to
run her hands
over your warm skin
sculpted by Life,
who wants to
fill her insides
with the fragrance
of your breath,
who wants to
listen and dance
to the song
of your soul;

so let's
scrape away
the silver
veil of fear
that keeps
you and me
apart;
for
of what use
is a mirror
to the blind
who know only
to look into
their hearts?

Mirrors

I have been fascinated, intrigued, baffled and sometimes disillusioned by the whole idea of 'mirrors' in our life (spiritual) journey. Something didn't seem right to me. I could not resonate with it and so could not really embrace that concept as I walked through my life. Somewhere I did not understand it in a way that felt right in my gut.

Today, the penny suddenly dropped....and I finally found my own truth. Not that it might be different from what people down the ages have been talking about. But today what I saw and how I saw it felt good in my gut. Today I can own it in a way I haven't been able to.

I realised today that my outer world is not a 'reflection' of my inner world. A person I meet or interact with is not a 'mirror' that reflects me and my inner world. That is not my reality. It is what happens in the space in between that determines my reality. It is what happens inside of me when I meet that person, or interact with him/her, or see something in the world outside (like issues related to food, territories, beliefs, religion, sex, money, values etc.). The person or event or situation is only pointing a finger to me.....telling me, showing me where to look....to find that place inside which is making me see what everyone around me is seeing, with different eyes....my eyes. That is what determines my reality. So do I see hunger, poverty, fanaticism, abuse, violence, abnormalities, or amoral acts? Or do I see something else? Do I see those as part of a larger picture of the world....a phase that we need to go through to rethink our ways of being and doing? Or do I see those things as 'not being right' and therefore need fixing, changing and standing up for? What do those 'issues' stir up inside me? How do they make me feel? That is where I need to look.

So then can I tell another that "the world is mirroring you or your feelings"? Can someone be a true mirror?

I believe not. The mirror is me. I have to look. I have to know where to look. Within. I have to get in touch with the feelings that the person or situation evokes. Honestly. Only I know and can know exactly how that makes me feel. Is it fear? Is it love? Or is it a deep knowing?

We cannot hide from ourselves for long. We cannot look away from the mirror....our own self....
the mirror that walks with us all through our lives. If only we choose to pause and look....

Here is a poem by David Whyte that I love that speaks about looking into our own mirror....

  
THE HALF TURN OF YOUR FACE
- by David Whyte

The half turn of your face
toward truth
is the one movement
you will not make.

After all,
having seen it
before,

you wouldn’t want
to take that
path again,

and have to greet yourself
as you are
and tell yourself
what it was like
to have come so far
and all in vain.

But most of all
to remember
how it felt again
to see
reflected
in your own mirror,
the lines
of abandonment
and loss.

And have those words spoken
inviting you back,
the ones you used to say,
the ones you loved
when your body was young
and you trusted
everything you wanted.

Hard to look,
but you know it has to happen
and
that it takes
only the half turn of your face
to scare yourself
to the core.

Seeing again
that strange resolve
in your new reflection.

Mirrors to the Self

how would it feel
to walk right through
a maze of mirrors
throwing you to you?
would you stop for a moment,
look around and freeze,
or would you find your way
flowing through like the breeze?
how would you know
which way to go?
when countless reflections
call and show you the door?
would you still your mind
and look deep within?
or would you feel around,
get bruised, stand grim?
when you know that the maze
is what you see with your eyes,
you will know and find your way,
that lies hidden inside.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

A young woman
once stood
on a thousand pieces
of shattered glass,
a thousand
winged dreams
lay grounded
in the dust;
watching each step,
softly, gently, she tread,
scared of  being bruised
and losing her head;
until she looked down
upon each tiny piece,
to find each was a mirror
she now loved and wanted to keep;
for when she looked into
each piece that she found,
she owned a part of herself
that she'd lost or didn't want;
a thousand dreams shattered,
but picked up with love,
when she owned each part,
she found a thousand splendid suns!