TRANSIT OF VENUS
( the dead pass by
The living pass by).
On long, rainy days
As summer floods in,
If only we could remain
Silent and listening
Hands still, ears open.
Not desiring anything –
The water-drop’s song
The grey and green light.
Remaining breathing
No wishes, no impatience.
Then we would not miss
The transits of bliss,
The constant reverberation
Of the invisible,
The passage of time,
The dance of space
Between one breath
And the next.
I wrote this on the day of the Transit of Venus, an event much heralded by some, invisible here because of steady rain clouds. It follows a lunar eclipse, much heralded by some, invisible because of rain clouds. This, together with complaints about our traditional weather (rain in summer), drew my attention to the yearning for the calendrical, anniversarial (?), momentous, special, ” once in a lifetime”, events. What do we strain to see? What do we let slip by unnoticed? The value of the unseen…..
simonhlilly 