Grow in the Dark

Things grow in the dark. 

We are obsessed, I think, with always being in 
the Light.
 Physically. Mentally. Spiritually. 

What if, what if, what if...

we stopped obsessing about 
pulling, 
 pushing, 
  gnashing, 
   grasping, 
    forcing,
     coercing,
      exorcising
people out of their moments of darkness.
And let them
Be.

As night time sleep restores cells, heals ills, 
fills spirits and souls with fantastical dreams
of infinite possibility

The deep woods where glimmers of light come sparingly to 
a Redwood tree in winter sustains 
hundreds years growth and powerful beauty, 
moisture rich red-brown-black softly tendrilled, squishy bark 
blanketed in verdant green canopy
host to millions of creatures in converged cohabitation.

Maybe, maybe, maybe...

our systems for success are
wrong
And the silent alarm
    felt only from within 
ticks and tocks 
 - - suggesting - - 
quiet,
       rest,
to absorb, coalesce, synthesize. 

Ignored!
it sounds aloud a cacophony 
  of confusion
a blunt-force 
  collision
a wave that roils and drags you 
  to silty bottom,
pulls you tumbling, deep,
arms and gasping breath 
  flailing 
against the tide

Tosses you, 
Hard! Head Spinning! Aghast!
to a place where 

     You 

       Must

          Stop.

Where simply being 
can draw pain
in the struggle 
to be other than 
I 
   am. 

Dare to hold 
Still
to hold silence
to hold darkness
to hold fear
and befriend 
yourself 
     in the gloaming.

Pray-Mantra-Babble On
"I agree. I agree." *

Who is to say 
how many seasons 

in darkness,
embraced warmly in Earth,
nourished as seedlings,
held rooted in solid ground,
 steadies
humans on a spinning sphere

we each need to grow? 

Beautiful lives emerge from 
periods enveloped 
     of|in|amidst 
darkness. 

You. Me. 
This ancient 
 powerful
  resilient 
Tree. 

*A prayer from Pema Chodron’s When Things Fall Apart