Deference: Acceding to the Flow

Difficult meditation,
Couldn’t seem to focus
Having lost my motivation,
Reluctant to see what was happening,

Tried counting breaths
And for an interval succeeded,
Then drifted off into oblivion
Subsequently finding what was needed,

The mind redirected
To a new object of attention:
The sounds in the room
As they wavered up and down;

I noticed the hum
Of the heating system,
How it varied,
Wave after wave,

Then there were the cycling sounds
Of the refrigerator,
As it regulated
Its internal temperature,

The siren of a fire engine
Passing on the street outside
Punctuated the ensemble,
Rising and fading amidst the machine rumbles,

In addition there was the hissing
Of the gas fire
In my host’s front room,
(Where this group meditation took place),

And finally there were
The sounds of joints crackling
From the minor movements of sitters’ bodies
Seeking more comfortable positions
During this forty-five minute long session.