This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.
—THE GUEST HOUSE, Rumi

 

As morning drapes in mystery
filters through the curtains
something somber rises.

You meet the ascension
greet its arrival
offer your visitor a chair.

Starkness sits in the old slat back
where it leans against
the vertical spindles.

Like the bleakness of winter
a wooden stiffness
shifts its weight

wraps its leaden limbs
around four legs.
In tender awareness

you observe your guest
honor its presence and think
Soon spring will arrive

melt into the softness of knowing
this too shall pass.
When lambency lifts

distills a serene caller
a crown of brightness
its gentle greening.

Jeannie E. Roberts has authored eight books, six poetry collections and two illustrated children’s books. Her most recent collection is titled The Ethereal Effect – A Collection of Villanelles (Kelsay Books, 2022). Her work appears in online journals, magazines, and print anthologies. She’s a Best of the Net and an Eric Hoffer award nominee and serves as a poetry editor for the online literary magazine Halfway Down the Stairs.