Kyiv, Ukraine

Many things are true

At an outdoor wedding
Many things are true.
There is dust, breath, & pulse.
Today we see how that mixture combusts.
How will we commingle, caress & rebuff
When our cosmic particles meet?
To comprehend the wisps of life before us
– fluid waves & ever-changing colors-
Is to know the particles are not the same today as yesterday.
What radioactive fallout changed them?
What joy heals them?
What hopeful life will emerge today
In the shadow of Chernobyl?

-Kyiv, Ukraine, May 7, 2013

Thin Spaces

(“/Thin spaces/ are locales where the distance between heaven and earth collapses and we’re able to catch glimpses of the divine, or the transcendent.” – Eric Weiner, “Where Heaven & Earth Come Closer,” New York Times, May 12, 2012)

Into the raucous rumpus of a wedding
I came with a cold but left with a
Warm sense I’d walked into thin spaces
I’d feared to go because I was not ready.

Connecting without harm
To the powerful energy of love
Is tricky business.
There cannot be too much of me, nor too little trust.
Just the right amount, and maybe the ground opens
Our entangled particles pull us
In a great communal leap
Across the chasm of old, familiar pain
To a new we.

If we do this right we’re lighter & freer.
We do this wrong we come out bitter, dirty, tired.
It’s a tricky business.

Thin spaces surprise you
Like the Spanish Inquisition.
Ready to pounce and strip you
Until at your core you know
Who you are.
What you want to become.

Thin spaces don’t appear on a time-stamped agenda.
They don’t like being ordered around.
They are not boasting or vain.
Praise a thin space and it disappears for decades.
They are not idols, but portals.

Pay attention to the right things:
Nuances, gestures, hesitations, the excuse.
Why is she here? That’s a good start.
What does she seek? Even better.
What is going on?

God-given mishaps are thin-space language
That transform a moldy, dusty surface with a
Truth no language would approach
and you’d never find IF
-the lunch started on time or
-the key was in the right pocket, and
-the trash didn’t stink in the ante-chamber
forcing people together inside to what could be
a tomb or a passage to a new world.

A soft knock outside a locked door.
Must be careful as she enters.

In that moment I trust the light
That shines on her face will show
Kindness in her eyes even if it’s just
The reflection of the wish in mine.

Come in.
Sit.
Drink.
Let me tell you a funny story
Where I failed.
And in our laughter,
We fall gently into that thin space
To a new world
Where I must be as aware of who I am
As I was in the last.
There are no shortcuts.

Pay attention.

That’s the rule of thin space law.
See what’s before you not what you wish to see.
Look too much for the girl in the dress and
You’ll miss the knock on the door.
Long for the knock and miss the person at your side.
A shorter cab ride for two and
You miss the bridge for three
To a new future from a dead past.
Take pictures too fast and miss the waiting around
Where the real miracle occurs
A brief confession.

Reconciliation –
a taste sweeter than all the wine of Cana.

Roll up a wedding into a watch and find
It’s 1% I do –
A beautiful sigh for all to enjoy
But 99% is where the miracles are found.
We know they love each other, but do we?

Somewhere in all the waiting are
Thin spaces overstretched hearts can stumble through.
It’s only waiting around if you’re
Blind to
God-sightings
Grace-catchings and
Dappled light
From the other world restored,
Unbroken
Soft and
Kind.

Share this: