Thoughts from the Quietude

We build such strong fortifications within us
little knowing that efforts thus expended
must be paid for in perpetuity
or that the walls
however thick and well made will crumble
built as they are on the sands of time

What price would you be willing to pay
in order never to have to experience pain
can your imagination even begin to fathom
a lifeless life such as this
is it not pain that teaches me joy
or loss that reminds me to love

I travelled to an island paradise
far from the humdrum worries of my life
I awoke with the dawn and cried to see the sun
such exquisite beauty there is in the world
I watched as the sky flamed at sunset
and wept to see the moon rise in its serenity

Each day I inched nearer to an unspoken wisdom
the nature of which I could not even guess
but I awoke, I awoke
and in doing so I became even more acutely aware
of the yearning within me to understand
that which is hidden in plain view

Always I strive to see what cannot be seen
are we alone amongst the universe and beyond
in seeking meaning and purpose
surely no such efforts are expended by inanimates
nor in the beings that share this mortal plane
I seem uniquely ill equipped for such wonderment

It got me thinking of the fortifications within
and the Law of Unintended Consequences
what if these are the source of the problem
the cause of an emotionally induced blindness
despite my best intentions to do otherwise
I have not yet dismantled my earlier handiwork

I travelled home from my trip to the island
trying in vain to carry this knowledge
but as with the quietude it swiftly deserted me
and with it flew my uncertain certainty
sense seemed senseless in my everydayness
a solitary splash of colour amongst the greyness

But in my mind ...
I sometimes walk the beaches of that island
and know peace