A poem... because that's what I do when I don't know what else to do

What it is.

by Bobbi Jo Chavarria

For my Grandma, on her birthday, who is with me always 

and to my sons who woke me up before they were even born.

It isn’t about now

It is about what has always been

Along with what never was

But it’s what it looks like

When we are no longer sleeping

Remember that moment

When you were really awake

And the illusions fell away

And you were satisfied

And humble and powerful

And overwhelmed

By the truth of oneness?

It looks like that.

It sounds like a sigh

And feels like a soothing song

With a rocking beat

It used to be that I couldn’t breathe

but I put my hands up

and stayed standing
until we could sit together

swallowed my fear

so that it wouldn’t swallow me

channeled my anger

as a spark for ignition

but let the love

take it from there

Rumi said, “Don’t go back to sleep,

You must ask for what you really want.”

That’s what it is

What we really want.

What has always been

What we have been made to forget

It is time to remember
It is time to stay awake
and make it What. It. Is.

April 30, 2015