Quietude
April 15th, 2020 - Week three of our countrywide lockdown. The South African economy is in free fall and with it, the subsistence of millions of lives.
I awake with an unwonted disquietude. Habitually, in this specific order, I quaff the glass of water that I set out the night before, I make my bed to clear the visual noise and position my chair in the unoccupied centre of the room to face the unbounded world beyond my window.
I take my seat. Today, instead of mindlessly performing the task of meditation, I opt for the spoken contemplations of an English poet. His voice, a melange of gravel and silk, forthwith quells my performance oriented armour and without warning, an ocean wells up in my eyes. My armour, exposed as that incessant drive to improve and achieve, to acquire and secure, recedes into the darkness from hence it came.
In the warmth of the morning sun, I can once again perceive the gentleness of poetry to soothe my wounds, the quietude of beauty to silence the noise and the memory of, a type of friendship that does not require words, only eyes.
—
Discover English poet, David Whyte’s poetic contemplations on the Waking Up app, and Irish poet, Pádraig Ó Tuama’s lyrical invocations on the exquisite Poetry Unbound podcast. With love,