THE LONG WATCH
I draw aside to-day:
into the quiet, the reflection
of the pool of life.
I watch the disturbance,
the stone of my being
cast into the timeless pool…
ripples moving outward
from the centre
of the sunken stone…
circular disturbances
of small circumference
enlarging to a fading edge.
The rippling of my life
is energy into stillness
moving beyond its entry point.
The ripples, equilibrium disturbed.
The still centre sinks
under the surface.
Rippling circular to centre.
Never a straight line,
never trajectory altered.
The disturbance continues
outward…
Until, far from its centre,
it ceases.
I draw aside to-day:
into the quiet, the reflection
of the pool of life.
I watch the disturbance,
the stone of my being
cast into the timeless pool…
ripples moving outward
from the centre
of the sunken stone…
circular disturbances
of small circumference
enlarging to a fading edge.
The rippling of my life
is energy into stillness
moving beyond its entry point.
The ripples, equilibrium disturbed.
The still centre sinks
under the surface.
Rippling circular to centre.
Never a straight line,
never trajectory altered.
The disturbance continues
outward…
Until, far from its centre,
it ceases.
Brigid O’Carroll Walsh
Ash Wednesday 2008
6 February 2008
© 2008
