Constant: Meandering

Nothing original today,
Merely more sewing
And more living,
Continuously doing.

The sauna-like heat
Of this summer’s day
Makes me sleepy,
And it’s only Monday.

I’d rather be
In someplace cool,
Lakeside or seaside
Or even by a pool.

It’s a good day for sitting,
And drinking cool beverages,
For stopping and resting,
Not for beating averages;

I feel rather stuck,
Not in a productive mood,
There are many tasks to complete
But instead I mainly brood.

Naught seems right,
But I’ve seen this previously,
You’d think I could pass by it
Rather than grumbling aversively;

How long, I wonder,
When will it make sense?
Sometimes it feels
Everything is at my expense,

But of course, that’s nonsense,
This foolishness must end,
A little effort is all that’s needed,
To rouse myself and attend
To what’s here for a time.

Consonant: Keeping On

Continuing to seek
Before mind,
And ending up
Patching clothing,

But it’s the same thing
Mundanely performed,
Peering between
The threads;

There is before mind
Here too, as everywhere else
Within the practical
Everyday tasks;

Herein lies the core,
All the answers
I am looking for,
Within these spaces too;

The texture
Of the cloth
Reveals
The fabric of reality.

Sitting and breathing afterwards,
Observing the present feeling,
Relief and release
From the need to do,

Which I would not feel
If I had not done
All the work
That came before,

All that hand sewing,
Which so wonderfully
Concentrated my attention,
Replacing a collar and mending,
And watching for before mind.

Consolidation: Before Mind

The place before mind
Is what I am seeking;
Not staying with words,
But abiding in between,

Not hanging out
With objects
But in the spaces;
This is my quest,

This is the reason
I keep starting over,
Striving to get back
To the beginning,

Looking for the time
Before mind,
The darkness
Before existence.

Once I tried to look beneath
My darkness,
And there I found light,
There I found bliss,

But where I need to go
Is beneath even that,
Back to the darkness
Back to before mind.

This is not denial of now,
But recognition;
That’s when I began
To clean this place:

Only after seeing
That before mind
Is the only location
From which
The fullness of life can be realized.