A Psalm

for the

Discontented

 

"Let this darkness be a bell

 tower and you the bell. As

 you ring, what batters you becomes

 your strength."

                          ~Rainer Maria Rilke

 

Here lieth

the language

of the unsaid,

where trees

grow green

remedies

and medicines

from fruits

are bred.

 

The fact that

repetition always

forms a rut,

it’s best

to cleanse

your lens

of ways

as aches

and pains

that come

with age

can and do

build up.

 

The days

of the week

might have been

fashioned by men

in pitch black robes,

but to keep repeating

these ghostly

demarcations

is like being tethered

to a rope.

 

If weeds 

be heartier

than the flowers,

perhaps the garden

not be pruned.

Being caretakers

of our own environs

can be like being

put in charge of

an amaranthine

ruin.

Thank goodness

what's no longer useful

eventually falls away.

Just be careful

you don't burn bridges

as the moat

seems here to stay.

If you can

learn to tell

the time without

glancing at a clock,

then don't you feel

it may be time

to find freedom

from the flock.

 

Nothing outside us

can satisfy

if the self

can’t step aside.

Discontent is an angel

whose breath blows

far and wide.

Let this prayer

blow through you

like a reed

not letting

one judgment

go unchecked.

Though everyone

is doing

their best

despite being

a veritable wreck.

 

From here on out

take notice of sleep

when shopping

at the market

or walking

the street,

or even when

coming back.

Your dreams

have a verdant vitality;

a primal life

that can break through

the cracks.

 

If the ego

should go sour

inside the owner’s

mouth,

don't blame it.

It’s only the mind

that conquers

and divides 

by cleaving

North from South.

 

To know

what someone’s

going to say

before they

even say it

is consciousness

turned on its head.

This prayer

is for them,

so why

not pray it

just before

going to bed.

 

Some say that God

after lending us his

very breath

ends by deigning

to take the fifth.

Rescinding on

his agency

as if it’d

been a myth,

so that from

here on out

we walk

and breathe

as if apart and

on our own,

as wellbeing is

a participatory sport

and never ours alone.

2/20/23