An original poem by David Spurvey, MBSR participant (Tokyo, Fall 2015)
Boat of Presence
We have no rightful claim
to perfect love, or happiness
or even freedom from suffering.
Our little creature souls cry out,
repeatedly and from very young;
how could we not listen, that was how
our humanness was born.
So we spend our lives
running from distress, or the threat
of distress, or the fear of the threat
and end up spinning in ruminations
becoming trapped in the web we’ve spun,
When the medicine we really need
is right here, in the perpetually returning
moment… like a suddenly smiling face
breathtaking in its unrehearsed beauty.
So sit down, lighten your burden,
settle down alongside me.
ride the rhythms of your breath
in this little boat of now,
gently rocking in the buoyancy of presence:
this is our rightful claim,
and this, and this.
© 2016 David Spurvey