Stephen Kalinich: You Are My Heart

YOU ARE MY HEART

How do I endure?
How do I persist?
How do I face
This Bruised sense?
How do I fight the woes
Of this existence?
Is there any survival guide.
Any tool
Instruction manual?
It is mostly try
Fumble
Fall
Begin again
Give up.
Feel desperate.
What ties me to this
Awful conflict?
What holds my soul in check
Limits my very breath?
Where is that youth
That slips out of me
Lets me feel depleted?
Where do I turn?
Is there anything
But a question?
Is the search futile?
Am I humble enough
To let go
Of every impulse
Every Attachment?
To stop pursuing happiness
And instead just be
Within my own skin?
Can any love
Or beautiful Goddess
Rescue me-
Deliver me from this chasm?
How can I even
Get the energy
To enjoy this moment ?
I am locked
In this constant pain.
I seek relief-
Peace
Cessation of sorrow.
I want to save myself
And in so doing
Leave a gem
For the world-
Or is that also
Something
I must abandon
Leave behind?
Can I fill my lungs
With ample
peace
Contentment?
Can I escape this daily battle?
Where they want
To sell you an easy Road
When you know
Life can never
be that simple.
You buy into the madness.
You cling to the hope
And you never Confront
Your darkness
The enemy that is within you.
The delusion
That you are Giving
And caring.
When you are selfish
Like everyone else.
Where you even
Want to paste your name
On every good deed
Act
And contribution.
You want to be awarded
For being
The citizen
Of the world.
You seek the honors
Of people.
What a waste of effort.
Do it all Quietly
Silently.
Hide behind it.
Do it anonymously.
Let no one find
A trace of you in it.
Then your secret
Will remain hidden.
Be invisible
In your deeds.
Absent in your kindness.
Let the touch
Be so light
That there is no weight
Pinned to it.
Take the I
Out of giving.
Be transparent.
That is one key
To bliss
To a taste of sweetness
That Life can be.
You are more powerful
Than you know.
Your strength comes
As you realize
It is Grace
Moving you
To every act
Every noble
Caring gesture.
It is the kiss
Of Love
Upon your lips.
The words of Love
Pouring out of you.
Be patient.
Be receptive.
Be ready to Dance-
To leave your delusion.
To move through
Every adversity and challenge.
You are a grand
Eloquent Symphony.
You are the reality
That cannot be reduced
Or confined
Within the limits
That you impose upon yourself.
You are the One you search for.
You are the revelation unrealized.
You are my Heart.