As you prepare to listen,
To let the words of a poem wash over you,
Take a moment to simply breathe slowly,
Deeply,
And relax.
Find a comfortable position.
If you like,
Close your eyes,
Opening your mind,
Your heart,
Your ears.
This poem is called The Current,
The River,
And the Rain,
And it's found in the book Earth,
Water,
Fire,
Air,
Space,
Meditative Poems by Julie Delma.
The Current,
The River,
And the Rain The river waters gleam,
A glistening black.
The recent rain waters quivering the current.
It is night,
And there is nowhere to go but everywhere.
The spilling of one thread into the next.
And this flow does not stop,
Does not stop,
Does not stop.
It opens into the wingspan of morning,
Coasting in over the night's sprawl.
Over the first sleep,
Second sleep,
Last sleep.
The river of breath spilling over the crests and banks of the bones,
Slipping in and out of the corridors of the lungs,
Sending its currents rippling into the farthest reaches of toe tips and palms.
The curl and curve of all that gives and all that gives way.
The edges letting go into something softer,
Sweeter.
The mirage of goodbye breaking apart.
The weight of a construction crane reduced to a bright yellow leaf,
Floating on the Gihon River,
Which is Powell River,
And the Potomac,
And the Rio Grande,
And every river brushing the earth with smooth shore strokes,
Shaping the tides of live and the tides of die that speak each time we breathe.