Brian’sPoems

Some Instructions

I woke last night
with this instruction:
open a pathway in your soul,
toward the sacred and profound.

It’s now morning,
the sky a dismal gray,
and the outside world
strangely silent.

It’s also Monday
but school is out,
so the buses don’t run
and the overstimulated children sleep,
while their parents caffeinate
anticipating the afternoon.

I’m stuck,
stuck holding the tension
of a busy day,
of a busier week ahead,
of my lover overcome
by her anxiety.

We all wait and wait
and wait some more
to hear the voice of God,
to hear something louder
than the voices in our heads.

Then one day we get
a telegram, a text or an email,
something plain and simple,
sent from the other side
of our knowing.
We all desire instructions
for how to get out
of what we’ve gotten into.
And they always come
without a messenger,
like a blown leaf.

It turns out
there is no remedy
for this gray day
or for my childish worries.
My task is,
as it has always been,
to open a space
for the sacred and profound.