ACCEPT (ELUL 4)



The leaves will turn
then let go.

The days will flicker
like candle stubs.

The woman tethered
to a toxic drip

will get better
or she won't.

The child in me shouts
it isn't fair --

as though I could change
God's mind, rewind

the fallen leaves
to spring chartreuse.

The process of writing today's poem began with the idea that where I get myself into trouble (where I suspect we all get ourselves into trouble) is wanting things to be different than they are. Some things are changeable, of course. But others aren't. Time, for instance, flows in only one direction.

Accepting what is can be a powerful spiritual practice. What changes in me if I make the conscious choice to accept instead of to fight? How do I gauge when I should be working on accepting what is, and when I should be working on changing the world? Good questions for this fourth day of Elul.

I'm participating again this year in #blogElul, an internet-wide carnival of themed posts aimed at waking the heart and soul before the Days of Awe. (Organized by Ima Bima.) You can read last year's and this year's #blogElul posts via the Elul tag; last year's posts are also available, lightly revised, in the print chapbook Elul Reflections.