That ought to have been my reaction

Poetry: No End (To The Endless Days)

Image courtesy of Miikka Luotio on Unsplash

There was a tall house, with a small, boat tunnel beneath.

The shallow water had pebbles at its floor.

I had the idea to have a seat on the back wall, a place to sit, to watch the gentle waves lapping.

This was on the front cover of a book.

Image courtesy of Emily Morter on Unsplash

Over the entrance to the tunnel were bullet-point messages; meant to help with ones life, or at least to the living thereof.

The meditation that followed was to do with difficulty.

First I saw the monkey walking towards me, as on that road in Scotland, beside the Buddhist monastery.

Then I thought of our counselling sessions.

That plain room, all birch and cream, with a bowl of beach pebbles, on the low beech table.

I could not settle to fix things at the time, but have since determined that I ought to have said:

That to give light, that to give love, that to give space.

That to listen to you, carefully, attentively, that ought to have been my reaction.