Everything is Waiting for You, David Whyte

Here's the poem I sent this week in my weekly email reminder for the Willamette Mindfulness Practice Group:

At the end of the semester, with countless deadlines, lots of work left to do, the urgency everything seems to gain, it is easy to forget that there is a flow to things, an interconnection to all that is, and that we are part of it all. I love the following poem by David Whyte. In the first line it reminds us perhaps of one of the most critical insights: "Your great mistake is to act the drama as if you were alone." A wonderful call to mindfulness. Join us tomorrow to talk about how we can nurture mindfulness through developing that sense of connection to everything that is:

Everything is Waiting for You
by David Whyte

(After Derek Mahon)

Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice. You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.

Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into
the conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.

If you want to hear David Whyte do a reading of this poem, follow this YouTube link.

Comments

[Kendall]

David Whyte revolutionized the way I read poetry aloud. I have one of his CDs, and he's one of my heroes. I hadn't read this one--thank you! And I'm almost through Mr. Palomar--thanks for that too.

[Karen]

Gasp. Oh my.