When tonight comes,
and the candlelight begins to cast shadows
on the freshly painted walls,
Let’s be quiet for a while.
In this silence,
Only the burning wood has a story to tell.
Cold feet are searching for warmth
on the soft red carpets.
Under the skin,
Each leaf of grass we touched is alive.
No trace left of the day that passed,
But a faint memory of the sun setting on a dusty road.
On a naked branch, a solitary leaf,
Struggles to let go of its past.
The words pinned on a tree far away:
“I shall pass through this world but once”
Reaching through time like a mantra.
In this stillness,
In this place,
Surrounded by small things and large shadows
We weave our way to one another
Every time.
Someone laughs.
A teacher tells a story.
Like small children
We curl up within.
Listening. Learning.
About the eternal traveler,
The never-ending road,
The sanity of simple truths,
The snake that did not dare to hiss,
And the fear that what we worked so hard for,
Like passing seasons,
may never last.
Then, we return
To this beginning, to this place,
In silence and in love, once again…
When tonight comes,
and the candlelight begins to cast shadows
on the freshly painted walls,
Let’s be quiet for a while…
With gratitude and love to all of you for being part of my journey,
Nordlind C Fouche
IMISA Retreat, The Hydro, Stellenbosch, May 2023
© Nordlind C Fouche
