Presence (Not Presents)

This we have now
is not imagination.


This is not
grief or joy.


Not a judging state,
or an elation,
or sadness.


Those come
and go.


This is the presence
that doesn't.


- Rumi




Reflecting on a night when the moon turned a rusty red before my eyes,
remembering the 145 people who died on the streets of Denver this past year and the acknowledgment of their lives that we attended last night,
thinking of the grief, fear, love, and frustration that moved like the earth passing over the moon during my dad's recent illness,
and recognizing that it all comes and goes
without my control,
and all that stays constant is
life
love
the ever-now-ness.
Never touched by the comings and goings.
When I connect with that,
I know peace.