Based on the painting, “Peaceable Kingdom” by Edward Hicks
1.
I know the glow of benevolence when I see it.
It is easily recognized by the wild animals,
so they willingly come to you without regret
trusting what they should not.
When they come to you, you do not harm them,
so they recognize this and respond.
They know your voice does not lie, so they relax,
settling down so you can smooth them.
They are easily led and they allow themselves to arrive,
permitting you to touch them, feeling tranquility
in your fingers, they forget to flee, the urge to dodge.
They let their muscles loosen and their pacing is released.
It is the same as a breeze when air is hardly moving
yet you feel it, you stretch out your arms to embrace it,
your hair tingles on your arms like light touch,
your tension leaves your jaw. This is what happens
when you remove yourself from everything. This
is what happens when you go silent and into yourself.
Something speaks inside of you, so subtle,
you have to listen closely, intently.
It is a voice telling you something. Listen.
It is telling you to let go.
All you to do is trust. You can fall back
and you will be caught. You will be alright.
This is why I trust you as the wild does.
I will be safe in your arms,
you do not have to be there for me to know this,
it is part of the trusting, it is a part of letting go.
2.
I am domesticated.
I acknowledge this now.
I was a beast until you came along.
At first, I resisted this.
I did not understand & mistrusted.
I refused to let myself be tamed.
I thought being controlled meant
losing something about myself
I was wrong
I was wrong as wrong could be.
When you took me in,
brushed me with your serene hands
I began to understand something,
something wordless,
something that needed to be felt
and unable to describe
other than I felt safe, loved,
and protected like never before
I felt something few have felt
until they let go,
and find the what is invisible
and then regret waiting so long.
3.
This calm is what I want, forever,
your hands, solid as light,
as thirst is quenched without water.
Your arms opened for all to enter
even a person like me, especially me,
although I do not understand why me,
doubting I deserve this, in spite of myself,
or perhaps because of me.
Rather than question this,
it is better to accept what is possible.
It is simpler this way.
It is what is needed and necessary.
4.
The wild and the tame lay together,
breathing a new kind of music
sighing the calm into the trembling forest,
knowing what was not before
it can be a peaceable kingdom,
only they have to be willing to change
that which was missing is returned,
finally they see what they could not
the grass shining, the hummingbird air,
the wind speaking in secret tongues.
If you listen, it will speak to you without talking
& you will hear what you need to hear
how to seek for another way to live
without craving retribution or what is not ours.
The lack of control scares us, fiercely,
needlessly throwing around destruction,
treating others as undetectable,
unwilling to consider options.
5.
We can lie down with the wicked,
or move dream-like like we already do.
We can continue to wade in the wrong direction,
or question the direction we are heading.
When it seems like only one way,
two at best, we never see more, never more.
If I lay down in the pasture with my enemy
will we discuss our differences, rationally.
If he kills me, then he destroys
his own chance at peace;
if we use a common language
can we give what the other needs,
will we realize we never really own anything,
will we hold onto our own shadows, tightly,
how can we argue over nothing we had,
how long can we hold our breath.
6.
Your hands hold what is hidden.
When your hands open, there is a small light.
I can either believe there is light
when there was no light before,
or believe it was a magic trick.
When I open my own hands, I find light.
Martin Willitts, Jr. has had publications in Big City Lit, Rattle, Pebble Lake Review, Hurricane Blues (anthology), Hotmetalpress.net, Haigaonline, Bent Pin, 5th Gear, Slow Trains, Primal Sanities (anthology) and others. He has a print chapbook Falling In and Out of Love (Pudding House Publications, 2005), an online chapbook Farewell--the journey now begins on www.languageandculture.net 2006, in archives), a full length book of poems with his art The Secret Language of the Universe (March Street Press, 2006), print chapbook Lowering Nets of Light (Pudding House Publications, 2007), online chapbook News from the Front, edited a poetry anthology about cancer, Alternatives to Surrender (Plain View Press, 2007), and an online chapbook of haiku with his artwork, Words & Paper.
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