Prison of Your Own Thoughts

A Poem

You are lost in a prison of your own thoughts

You possess no understanding

where to turn in the midst of

this darkness, how to lay down

the wailing and the weeping

You are desperate

to leave behind the shouting, the too-tight

grasp, the blank stares piercing

your tenderness

How about taking a new path?

We could try

LOVE

maybe even

PRESENCE

How about cultivating KINDNESS

for your own heart?

Lost in the midst of all that we hold

dear, isn’t it the TRUTH

that we want,

and also the TRUTH

that we fear?

What would you say if I told you

the way is already

underneath your sweet toes —

it is in this breath, in the fragrance of these

ancient elder trees

it is here in the palm of your hand

if you will only

open your clenched fist

Prison of Your Own Thoughts

© RBGraham 2022. All Rights Reserved.

I publish this poem in the midst of a global crisis. I stand with all my human brothers and sisters in a circle of hope, of love, of peace. My prayer — may all beings be free from suffering. May all beings be free.

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