potential energy

on patience and potential

Monarch butterfly. Image source: http://www.inquisitr.com/388618/southwest-airlines-flies-late-blooming-monarch-butterfly-to-texas/

Said the lover to the beloved, who was consumed by fear of stagnating, of not fulfilling her potential, of wasting her precious time in life:

Look around you!

The apple could not have been picked sooner. The cocoon could not have opened earlier. But neither is sitting still, doing nothing. Both need time to grow.

You are the apple of my eye

and the butterfly of my heart.

I cannot wait until you feel for yourself the wings you are going to grow,

and see how beautiful you are.

At times, we may come to feel trapped within the paths we once chose, or that were chosen for us. We may come to feel that we are idly allowing the mystery, beauty and potential life offers, to pass us by.

This piece takes some words of wisdom that we have all been fortunate to receive at some point in our lives, and adapts them into a brief story.

dissolving further all the time (2014)

Somewhere along Balmy Beach, Toronto, ON. © Saara Punjani 2013. — Somewhere along Balmy Beach, Toronto, ON.
© Saara Punjani 2013.

each time we turned
to rise above this illusion of the finite,
we were met with a ceiling – not yet, not yet

we made steady ablutions
and we kept a hopeful heart
and still, we were not crowned to go on

a kite without a string
would be blown every which way on the ground;

a kite with a string
rises high in finite direction

yet, without the string
we could not have come
as far as we already have

how far must we rise before the string can be cut;
before we are unbound from the direction of our path?

how far must we rise before we are taken into the skies,
mere specks, dissolving further all the time?

on this day, listen, to the quiet,
as clearly, some things are being said

whether we move,
upward,
inward,
outward or forward,
we cannot begin to say

the tides pull us away,
that we forget you;

the tides push us so far
that we fall right in

here we have always been, unmoving in the movement,
immersed in the truth of your most impressive signs

let us dig deeper, look farther, stay awake longer;
let us continue searching for you

let us be so obviously engrossed,
mere specks, dissolving further all the time

which is you (2014)

i walk the narrowest road toward you,
no less fine than a hair

if there is anywhere to fall
it is directly into the mist below,

which
is you.

the end of your rope
is always in sight

all i must do is stretch out my hand
and you send it my way.

your rope – a lifeline for one who drowns
when in fact there is no other sea

if there is anywhere to drown,
it is directly into the height, width, and depth,

which
is you.