Presence

A tree cannot help but uncurl its leaves in spring Just as a river cannot stop its journey to the sea Nature flowing in full presence, not questioning or doubting Presence to be here now, so simple, to just be with what is unfolding in each moment To feel the miracle in every step, glory in each manifestation To be absorbed in what is, witnessing the magnitude of a setting sun The beauty of a flower newly unfurled, meeting the world for the first time without expectation Or demand A bird taking flight, thermal, soaring, gliding free I look to nature as my teacher, so easeful fills her relationship with presence Not a lifetime journey of practice and prayer to hold me there in that moment My mind easily distracted by flights of fancy, dreaming, wandering, conceiving Hatching new plans to entertain the restlessness of the mind, satisfying the ego that it is still In control We both know this is an illusion, a game that has been played since the beginning Of time It's an act of madness, and yet still I continue, with the distractions and Amusements being pulled this way and that But I know the truth, in those fleeting moments I see it, in its radiance, dropping into the Infinity of bliss, free-falling into the abyss It is everything and nothing, emptiness and fullness To be present is to be in the presence of divinity, to feel the wondrous glory that Touches the soul with a kiss