Understanding

Turn the tumblers, one and then another

For you to enter, all must be aligned

It opens to the easy spinning 

of your secret

Or to the deep discernment

of a listening mind.

Don’t settle for the superficial level

The one that opens up without a key

Where all may stroll 

but none may know the meaning

For to be true, the entrance must be deep

Beneath the layer of rationalization

Beneath the tallies of the service due

Beneath self-image and self-fabrication

A more fulfilling essence waits for you

Go deep, for underneath 

the thoughts that you can voice as words

You’ll feel the breath and pause

whose choice is to be heard

in silence, and in limpid images

that let you understand what really is.

©Wendy Mulhern

January 10, 2012

(music in background of recording: Isaac Shepard, "Dimming the Lights")