-- TALKING TO THE NIGHT –

John Herlihy

My life pours into me as rhythmic ocean waves,

All the good and bad together intertwined.

Sitting here in my little patch of earth and sky,

Watching and waiting, talking to the night.

Life can be hard in all kinds of little ways,

The waves, whatever they bring, soothing or harsh.

Awash in the vast complexity of a greater whole,

The greater whole comforting, all-enveloping.

Not to have more when more is only less,

Accepting less when less is more than more.

Amid the pull of the crowd, wishing to escape,

Content in the feeling of being set apart.

Happy to be young, not wishing to be old,

Happy to be old, not wishing to be young.

The moon never questions the shading of its stages,

When the sun rises, it never questions when it sets.

We make mistakes knowing we will give account,

I accept my lot because I know it is me choosing.

A troubled world as waves running up my spine,

Then cresting over me to spill down into my heart.

I keep a very old truth in the front of my mind,

That the balance of deeds always weigh itself.

A stone thrown in a lake, whether heavy or light,

Will cast rings that spread across the waters.

Many only focus on the surface of things,

I dig deeper, unknowing more than knowing.

A seeking and a yearning pulling me inside,

When the mind indecisive, the heart knows why.

Living life standing on the threshold of future and past,

There I stand, filling myself by confronting the world.

So much to learn, feeling like never reaching the top,

So much to unlearn, when falling into the bottom.

The night listens attentively and never talks back,

Truth standing next to me – no inside – a guardian angel.

 Feeling all peaceful, full of the vast ocean of night inside,

Such luxury living in two worlds, moving easily between them.

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Copyright © John Herlihy

Friday 29 July 2022