It is said that only poetry can come close to expressing the ineffable of this mysterious life. I agree.

After a slow breakfast and good conversation planning the release of the book my dad is writing, my parents took a nap. I sat down on the couch with my laptop to check Facebook for replies to a post I made about a heart-opening experience I had last night. Writing and editing the post took nearly an hour… I tend to start refining my writing as soon as I think it is “done.” I was up past midnight. This morning, it was a delight to open the post and see many beautiful replies, and a mounting number of “likes” and “loves.”

Suddenly, as if often the case when I write, an image and phrase came to me… ah, Muse, it’s you! and I gracefully took hold of the thread and followed it where it would lead… and a new poem was born. This Christmas Day, with love, this is my gift to you…

The Most Important Gift

The most important gift
to open
today
is beneath the tree
of an eternal beauty
and shelter
that I have always been
under
or at least near
whether or not
I knew it
at any given time…
despite the entangling

brambles

and the unpredictable

bombs

there were the moments
I could sense it
so near
could feel
inside
its fresh soothing
presence
on a breeze
or in the beauty
of the sunlight
caressing whatever scene
I happened to be
in
whether it was
a shiny or cloudy day…
or heard it in a song
saw it in a picture
or understood
the whispering wisdom
of a spring rain…
the low-flying geese
under a midnight full moon
above glowing fresh snow…
or in a kindness shown to me
by friends
or strangers
as if any of us are
actually strangers…
even in my parents
when their beauty
was truly available…
the gift
so obviously
is my heart
one of many hearts
of the One heart
which I have
indeed
opened
again and again
usually by silent intuition
and thankfully
now
with purposeful choice…
having learned that the hurt
when tearing the wrapping off
is inevitable
and not so bad
and found that the more layers of paper
the more strips of tape
surrounding the gift
the more time it may take
but that’s OK
just tear it open
not with reckless abandon
nor drawn-out caution…
just feeling what is
inside
letting it guide me…
understanding that a gift
left unopened
is not fully a gift…
although the tree
will keep it safe
until it is time…
and maybe the time is now
to at least pull a piece
of the paper
off
letting some of the light
in to
this gorgeous and tragic
world…
and maybe the time is now
to tear all the wrapping off
and let the deepest truth
and love
free.
© Paco Tozan Vérin
12/25/16