The Truth of Transition

A poem about facing changes in your life with courage.

Editorial Note: I read the lines “truth of transition” and “moment after moment, we discover something new and different” in the book, “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice” by Shunryu Suzuki.

The Artwork: Solstice

The Poem: The Truth of Transition

The truth of transition
reveals
that fear is simply information
reminding you
the moment after this moment
is something you have not yet met.

So?

You can guess at future feelings,
look only to others, weigh their ways
(back and forth the scales will swing
little mirrors, glints blinding you)

Moment after moment
we discover the new and different.

Moment after moment
we have to find our own way.

Not as some severed system
(little islands, disconnected)
but as mycelium
building a net,
each filament branching into the dark
offers itself to the mystery:

I know what is here and here and here.

But there?

I do not yet know.

Show me.