In a conversation with one of my best friends, I said to him, "You will eventually be able to laugh about everything." He said, "Everything?" With all the stuff that we get worked up about, we usually feel that we eventually either have to laugh or cry. At some point, you lose interest in the self-pitying that leads to wanting to keep the option of crying over spilled milk. Jay Farrar sang, "The world's gonna burn up four billion years from now if it doesn't happen anytime soon." Sometimes people joke, "If it (whatever) is still bothering you a hundred years from now, let me know."
So there are these different ways of experiencing what it is to be free. Personally, I like equanimity, I like laughter, I like love, oneness, etc. For this poem, the message may be obvious, but I like to say it again anyway. When I'm agitated and focused, or I don't feel particularly amused, sometimes the most natural and best way is to lose myself in kissing my girl. When we give up doctrinal ideas about meditative focus and spiritual jibbery-joo, we often find that what we want is right there for us. Separation may be good for the austerity of our souls, but kisses are good for us too. While it's true that everything I say has some feeling of being an act, of not really being my voice, my mind is sure that there is nothing wrong when the play can come to such a happy ending.
I only recognize
my voice
in source,
in silence.
Wherefrom, then,
these words
on my lips?
The answer is not
lost or found
somewhere in mind,
but my mind
is sure.
The answer
is found
somewhere
between our eyebrows,
the question finds rest
on your lips.
Copyright 2007 Todd Mertz