Words on a Wall

Introduce stories not yet told

The ones that need telling
Before the
Family ties can ease
Let me go
and my body can relax into the grandness of it all

As I say the words out loud
As I write them down
Write them up
Trust them to the wall

Weight leaves my shoulders
Pressure leaves my mind
Love returns to my lips
And a space
to merely be
expands

As the veil is lifted
Compassion and Loving Kindness
stand a chance

To express through me
To you
And as I look around
today
I see

That what I came here to bring
Is starting to take form

I now levitate in the beauty
Of the structure
And hang in there
With the slight ease of the rings
Without the tightness grip
With none of the heaviness of the weight
Within the warmth of them all

As it was
As it is
and as it will be
All at once

My words on a wall
Take shape
In the calm of my morning meditation

I let go of old stories
After acknowledging them all

And I keep Life
The life
that was given to me

Bowing deep
as I can never
balance that gift

Yet I will pass my gifts on
Use myself
beyond the fight of it all

In my words on a wall

~ Barbara Piper

The Compassion Institute has kindly published my reflection and poem.

“Barbara Piper-Roelofs is a life coach, poet, and alumna of Senior Teacher Robert Cusick’s CCT class. She has kindly shared with us a poem inspired by her experiences in CCT, along with a reflection on “the gap,” her word for the critical moment between noticing suffering and reacting with intention. You can find her at www.barbarapiper.org or on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram as “Coach Barbara.””

https://www.compassioninstitute.com/