Toward awareness

” ..out of awakening comes the laughter of the philosopher, with kindliness and tolerance to boot.”

‘The Importance of Living’​​ Lin Yutang

 

Hello friends, age often brings wisdom, but perhaps more important is the ability to see the bigger picture. Whether we call it awakening, self-awareness, perspective, or plain old common sense, many elders achieve a freedom from worry that can be the envy of the rest of us who struggle daily. Here is a lesson from a woman with disability, who nonetheless surprised me at a poetry reading with her own sense of freedom. May we all strive toward such awareness! Thanks, Gene

The Woman Who Was Free (2015)
(The Bentley Center for Adult Day Care, Athens, Georgia)

Three of us bring this month’s poems, singing and music
about freedom and the Fourth with fingers crossed.

Silly of the poet to deny liberty’s many sides —
the armies that march for it, the justified bombs
that promise it, the hard work of liberating
ourselves from its cultural enslavement.

Yet here it’s a simplified version of the
human span as life closes down willy-nilly
with body and mind retreating to quiet corners,
waiting to surprise with unexpected wisdom.

In red, white and blue décor, we read old poems
and sing known songs to spark dim memories,
inviting folk to join with voice,
hand gestures, even dance.

Yet my joy turns sad sensing my own decline
mirrored in theirs, feelings so easily
dismissed in earlier strength.

In parting, I ask about personal
moments of freedom over lifetimes,
as a final response takes me by surprise.

“I feel most free right now,” she says,
smiling through disabilities.
Did all the clocks in the universe hiccup
for a nanosecond?

What strange mystery this. Was it Jesus
preaching the inner kingdom, or Rumi
whirling happy with dervishes
on the sands of Anatolia, or Buddha
smiling at the uplifted lotus flower?

We came as cheerful choreographers,
confident in our gracious schemes,
when the afflicted woman cut to the heart.