Awakened

Awakened

I hope you weren't sleeping too soundly.

The awakened
make terrible house guests.

They ask for little,
but their very being
demands from you
the kind of attentiveness
which makes it difficult
to sleepwalk through your day.

Imagine the Buddha
sitting at your kitchen table
and silently sipping tea.
His reverence to your hospitality
overwhelms you with gratitude
for the generosity of life.

And maybe Mary Magdalene
confides to your listening
the story of a young man who
seduced her with his passionate heart,
yet needed her feminine touch
to remind him of his humanity.

What then?
Might there be a moment
when the fog of everyday living
lifts to reveal the possibility
you might answer yes
to that nagging invitation
you stay awake and begin living
your soul purpose for being.

---

To be awake is to be alive.
~ Henry David Thoreau