Friday, May 17, 2024

Flower for the Day Western Wallflower 5-17-24

The Western Wallflower (Erysimum capitatum) is a native to North America. It grows in rocky and clay soils and on walls and fences. I love its singular color.



Here is a poem for these interesting times.

This isn't rocket science, you know,

it's just sitting with what is,

letting the whole, wild and

impossible conundrum of life

touch me, change me, shake me awake.

This isn't difficult exactly

but neither is it easy to

witness sensations and thoughts

without withdrawing, defending,

pretending to be somewhere else.

You'd think simply being present

would be the most natural act

in the world, but in fact it

requires the unwinding of patterns,

the unlearning of thought loops,

the refusal to stay in old grooves.

It's a practice, this choice to be

still and know what I know

while allowing the ocean of my

unknowing to scour the mind's

shoreline until awareness is

laid bare and the subtle sound

of breath vies with silence

for my attention.


  Danna Faulds


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