I am learning to listen
to the low-lying eddy
within
whispering murmurations
of truth and knowing.
For years I mistook
its faint current for something
meek and mumbling.
So, I dismissed it
and even worse
trampled upon it
with the heavy-footed
thump
of override.
I let the familiar thrum
of amped-up urgency
dictate decisions and
drive me farther away
from this whispering well
of me.
But there are times when this current
finds me… a bubble up pause
rising from the depths of my belly
speaking with a steady,
stone-soft cadence…
“Wait.”
“This doesn’t feel right.”
“More space and time is needed
before making this decision…
before choosing a direction.”
Sometimes its words
are accompanied by
the sloshy churn of nausea,
a halting jerk or a dizzy
wobble.
Pause. Sense. Listen.
And, each time I do,
I feel less alone.
I can feel this loyal eddy
widening, deepening
gladdening…rising up
and filling in
what was once
a regrettable rift
between us.
- Lauren Taub Cohen
