Breathe

Continuing with the theme of perception and perspectives, I thought that this weekend I would share a poem that I wrote a couple of years ago.

I wrote it during a road trip to North Wales with a friend. Driving through the beautiful scenery and breathing deeply of the fresh air, we had plently of time to talk and reflect. In one conversation my friend, who has a disability that means she can't now walk far without assistance, mentioned how initially she had been reluctant to start using a wheelchair. Some small part of her thought that using a wheelchair was restrictive, whereas the reality is that it has given her much more freedom. It started me thinking about the things (objects or circumstances) that we may initially perceive as restrictive and limiting but, when we choose to embrace them and view them from a different angle, can actually be the very things that free us.


I dare you to pause
Contemplate the rhythm of the rise and fall
as air,
held within the confines of a structure designed to sustain,
expands and is released.
You fear the vessel will restrain and restrict
Shackled to the repetitive in and out
But this is freedom
Drinking deep
Allowing this breath to enter every part
Choosing to expel the weighty remnant
Until weightless you soar on wings like eagles
Alive and free.

I dare you to dream
Look up and see through renewed eyes
how smoke,
rising from the confines of a structure designed to direct,
expands and is released.
You fear the loss of focus
But in expansion not a single molecule is lost
Invisible it touches all
Expanding horizons
Choosing to imagine more than the mundane
Allowing the impossible to become a possibility
As fearless you fly carried by the wind
Alive and free.

Dawn

Perspective can drastically alter our perceptions, as I reflected on in my last post.

Over the summer I helped take a group of young people away on a big youth camp. It was fun and rewarding hanging out with the teenagers, but I didn't get a lot of sleep! One morning I found myself awake at 3am and, despite my body still feeling exhausted from the previous busy day and gone-midnight bedtime, I was unable to go back to sleep. Initially I felt frustrated, but then I began to hear the birds starting to sing and recognised the precious joy of being able to greet the new dawn.

You wake me in the morning
dawning
realisation
that a multitude of voices are singing
bringing
glory to their maker.
Rising from slumber
embracing wonder
as emerging light
dispels the night
you invite me to join the chorus
of this creative day.