Meditative Poetry

Antonia D.

December 23, 2010 - 5:30 PM

I just returned home from my five day silent meditation retreat at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA less than an hour ago. Because I often have a hard time articulating what these retreats are like, I thought it would be most appropriate to share this poem I wrote last night while sitting alone in the dark under the full moon.

In The Silence

In the silence there are no stories to be told, glances to be shared, or excuses to be made.
In the silence, I can sit on hilltops, gaze up the stars, and bask in the glow of hundreds of twinkling lights.
There are no phone calls to be made, bills to pay, or meeting agendas to create.
I can sit by a slow moving creek and marvel at the life giving force of the water as it slides over slippery rocks.

I always knew how to take a deep breath. One day I just forgot how.
Then I remembered.
Forgot again.
Remembered again.
Forgot again.
Being still is a process of forgetting and remembering what is true.

In the silence I am free from my own darkness.
My not enough-ness.
My darkness has kept me safe.
In the silence, my mind unravels these stories and lets them go.
Because in the silence, I am the writer of my own story.

I am alive in my wholeness.
My heart opens so that I can learn how to open it to the world.
In the silence, I welcome the boredom and loneliness with a gentle smile.
In the silence, I know that all is right and perfect.

In the silence, there is nothing to do and nowhere to be. In the silence, I keep letting go.
In the silence, I learn how to be still. That is all I am here to do.