appreciating strangers

have you ever heard
that Jeff Buckley song
that really lovely one

he sings of
a certain state of mind
one of
satisfaction
certainly in no
form
of constipation
like mine

and yours
it's ours,
dear friend

collectively
individually
there is not that much difference
not really

have you ever
openly
admitted
your you-ness
to another
and found them
lighting up
and embracing you
with honest eyes
saying
"as do I, dear friend,
as do I"

we have been taught
and are led to believe
constantly
that
we can
improve
that we must improve
a better me
a better
you
i.e
YOU
you are not
enough
and in saying
that someone else is not
enough
surely
one is whispering
quietly
that
"I am not enough

as I am
I too must strive to be less
like me"


Someone sometime beaconed it
in a way that certainly agrees me
he said
that we say
"be yourself!

...but not like that"

Now I am going
to go
all
"ain't that the truth."
or
"ain't that the truth of what we are being taught from first breath to last."
by our
well meaning
parents
teachers
societies across
and by those who wish
to sell us something
promising
"this
this!
will make you feel whole
fast."

And so
it is up me to see that
accepting me
for me
means
accepting you
for you

for the fighting
resisting
the other as the other is
is the same really
as fighting oneself
resisting to be
the expression that in this moment,
is experienced
as me


so then
what we have learned
what we have sponged up
like stinky
icky
residue
is that
"I must deny me"
which means
automatically
instantly
that "I must deny you"

And what I deny me I deny you
and what I deny you I deny me
what you deny me you deny you
and what you deny you you deny me
an endless circle
certainly
exhausting
merely
to see it
in its written form

Surely
someone
with a satisfied mind
does not go on
denying
herself
or the other

Surely
someone
with a satisfied mind
has found
a way
an around
or a through

and he looks at you
not with
curiosity
he is not wondering who you might be
not with any interest
he is alright just the way he is
he looks unto you
with an honour
a recognition
that many have forgotten,
will gladly keep forgetting
and yet
he finds us
she finds us
and
appreciates us
simply
for us

and that!
My friend
is an allowing
an invitation
to reciprocate
to,
with welcoming eyes
look back
and see
that I am not so entirely far from you
and you are not so far from me

we may not
be so different
we hear
the same
thoughts
we experience the same
feelings
we imagine the same
problems
all expressed
in different forms

and we have various points of
comfort
we prefer so vastly wide
so unique
as
snowflakes
as whale flukes
and yet
when we gaze at snow and
when
we observe the graceful movements of whales
we see
that they all
seem
so much the same
so how,
oh how dear friend,
have we not come
back
to see the same
in you
and I?

our conditioning may be
our only true limitation
in this very regard

so
what to do

perhaps
nothing particular
at all


for if you simply do for you
what feels right for you
it means
that
it is okay
for me simply to do for me
what feels right for me

then we
allow
each other
the full spectrum of colour
and
when our eyes meet
across a counter or
in some line
no word is needed
that recognition
I bet
will feel
sorta,
kinda,
Divine
to be seen

to see
you as you with all of yours
and me
as me
with mine