Everything is Waiting for You
Everything Is Waiting for You
After Derek Mahon, by David Whyte
Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice. You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.
Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the
conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.
It was on the last morning of my recent trip to the Bosque del Apache that I took this photograph. How lucky I was to be the only person on the edge of a field where two mule deer bucks and their harems grazed through a canvas of wild grasses and brittle weeds.
I’d spent at least fifteen solace-drenched minutes as they meandered quietly through the field. But then a couple of cars wound their way around the bend, surprising one of the bucks.
It really is something else to see a buck break into what I can only describe as a jubilant bounce. With hooves tucked under, he gracefully levitated over and over as if gravity had completely lost hold of his rippling body. How strong and how utterly handsome!
At first, I was a bit dismayed that the doe was standing “in the way”, but after further consideration, I really do love how she just stands there, watching. I imagine she must have been admiring him as much as I was. What a sight to behold, bounding like a magical reindeer through the morning glow.
David Whyte’s poem ends with an astonishing phrase: Everything is waiting for you.
Not just a portion, but the whole wild field, brimming with possibility.
The magic lies in taking the leap, in having faith in this life and trusting the illumination of our own bright spirits.
Wishing you a boundless start to a beautiful new year!
Susan
Photo Credits: Mule Deer Buck Leaps by Susan J. Preston, Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge © 2019, all rights reserved
Technical: Fuji XT-3
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