A Believer's Journal

enough?

it is a strange word
rhyming with rough and tough
but also with snuff and powder puff
though not with cough and, for that matter, not with though
even though spelled in like fashion

and it is a strange notion
presuming some kind of measure
some kind of standard
against which effort, achievement, satisfaction, merit
are summarily judged

but who says enough is enough?
some blue ribbon international commission
setting benchmarks for what is too little and what is too much?
or is its definition merely subjective
meaning enough is whatever I say is enough?

but that is a rabbit hole
which to enter leads only to discontent and self-doubt
because enough today may not be enough tomorrow
which means that tomorrow I may well question
whether today was indeed enough

and to say enough
is to draw an end to desire and curiosity
to make premature end to the adventure that is this life
which must always reinvent and reinvest itself day by day
lest it die, or short of death, atrophy

no, better to dispense altogether
with the futile notion of enough
better to strive and seek and yearn and reach
pouring all out in order to take all in
being filled with the wonders and charms and joys of each new day

enough?
no, it is never enough!

ngggggggggggggggggggggggggg …

unstruck
of its own accord
the bell sings

ngggggggggggggggggggggggggg …

unseen
felt before heard
the bell sings

ngggggggggggggggggggggggggg …

from far beyond the limits of perception
from far beyond the edges of memory
from far beyond the grasp of understanding
the bell sings
its music without discernible rhythm or melody
rhyming instead
with the echo of a passing star
with the flutter of a hummingbird’s wings
with the sound of a windswept fir’s roots embracing a granite outcropping

ngggggggggggggggggggggggggg …

I hear it
I hear it
a song all its own
but holding within it other songs too
the song of the earth spinning on its axis
the song of Kilauea belching out its fire and ash
the song of thunder and lightning, of wave and wind, of laughter and weeping
the song of breathing and the song of dying
I hear it
and its music fills me
or perhaps it is that I fill it
my heartbeat attuned to its vibrations
my spirit subsumed into its song
the song without beginning and without end
the song that brings worlds into being
the song that silences the proud and sets the humble to dancing
the song that is

ngggggggggggggggggggggggggg …

never to be silenced
now and forever
the bell sings