Yes, We Can Talk

What will this summer be like? Will there be a second wave of COVID-19 in the fall? Brooklyn-born poet and spiritual advisor Mark Nepo often writes about living in uncertainty, and the importance of living fully in the present. This poem reminds us to “lay all distractions down," at least for the moment.

Thank you to Dr. Michael Stern for sharing this poem.

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Yes, We Can Talk

by Mark Nepo

Having loved enough and lost enough,

I am no longer searching,

just opening.

No longer trying to make sense of pain,

but trying to be a soft and sturdy hone

in which real things can land.

These are the irritations that rub into a pearl

So we can talk awhile

but then we must listen,

the way rocks listen to the sea

And we can churn at all that goes wrong

but then we must lay all distractions down,

and water every living seed.

And yes, on nights like tonight

I too feel alone, but seldom do I

face it squarely enough

to see that it is a door

into the endless breath

that has no breather

into the surf that human shells

call god.