Clearing
by Martha Postlethwaite

Do not try to serve
the whole world
or do anything grandiose.
Instead, create
a clearing
in the dense forest
of your life
and wait there
patiently,
until the song
that is yours alone to sing
falls into your open cupped hands
and you recognize and greet it.
Only then will you know
how to give yourself
to the world
so worthy of rescue.

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What images come up for you? Are you inspired to wait?

I imagine sitting in the front garden, smiling at children and adults (old and young) and dogs as they stroll past, leaving space for their smiles to reflect mine. I feel sun on my face, breeze brushing my skin carrying scents: lilac, smell of rain, pungent medicine of skunk, airborne seeds and bees and birds and leaves. I imagine my hands in the earth, bringing seeds to home, inviting them to grow to nurture my body and soul. I sit. I wait.

What would your waiting look like?