POEM: A Single, True, and Spontaneous Gesture
Written as a single, true, spontaneous gesture this morning while walking in Los Angeles
A Single, True, and Spontaneous Gesture July 1, 2022 I am bathing in the afterglow of a single, true, and spontaneous gesture. A simple look from a young man on the sidewalk as he moved to let me pass. In his hand was the hand of an old man. Seemingly blind, maybe a grandfather, to him…or someone...certainly. In that momentary and chance quantum entanglement, he offered this gift: a direct gaze, a slight purse of the lips, a turning down of the corners of the mouth, a knitting and raising of the brows. There was nothing polite in it. And nothing not-polite. Not your average greeting, it was a transmission and somehow I received it fully. The message was one of confusion about how it had come to this. How he never thought he'd be walking down Sunset Boulevard with a blind old man completely reliant on him. And maybe also some surprise at how well he was handling the responsibility. And perhaps something unfamiliar in the undeniable fact that he was finding it all somehow nice, even pleasant? I felt in that expression a single, true, and spontaneous gesture of his truth in that moment. All of it. In response, my heart opened (in one single, true, and spontaneous gesture!) to receive; to witness. It seems incredible, but that split second changed me. It was, by Grace, the answer to a prayer I was holding as I walked towards him up Sunset Boulevard. How can I be softer with myself And my loved ones?" When I really think about it, I was stopped in my tracks by that look. Touched right when I needed it most. Moved to write this poem. Thank you for answering my prayer with your life. What is this idea that we are strangers? A construction that impedes our ability to be in the spontaneous flow of life as it moves through these bodies? How can I feel such love, even reverence, for these two men? For that shared moment of understanding? Communion: it’s available every day as we move through this world, but, we are often the blind ones. As our bodies get unstuck from these times; this conditioning into normalcy, the patterns of polite society... In other words, as we heal... The possibility for more movement of Spirit into and through Matter; sending codes of Earth's wisdom, Life's wisdom through each true and spontaneous gesture. This is communication! This is how we can read the situation like a holy book in each other’s faces. To that young man, I say, "Being in your truth can be confusing in a world built on lies." What I can always trust is the single, true, and spontaneous gesture.