witness

Sometimes the mountain
is hidden from me in veils
of cloud, sometimes
I am hidden from the mountain
in veils of inattention, apathy, fatigue,
when I forget or refuse to go
down to the shore or a few yards
up the road, on a clear day,
to reconfirm
that witnessing presence.
~ Witness, by Denise Levertov

This poem touches me deep in the core of who I am coming to understand I am. It nudges

me to confess how often I lose sight of how I desire to live attentive to the Witnessing Presence. How often I allow myself to simply exist when what I truly desire is to live deeply into the moments of my days, to see the mountain even when it is hidden from me in veils of cloud. 

Yet, most often it is me hidden from the mountain in veils of inattention, veils of apathy. Hidden from the mountain when I forget to or refuse to go just those few steps which reaffirm within me the Presence of the One who is never truly hidden.

How easy it is to distract myself away from what is most important to me. How simple yet how difficult it is to stay attentive to my deepest desires. How easy it is in the midst of my doing to forget who I am, to forget that the truth of my Self emerges best when doing flows from being. 

It is a moment by moment choice to live unveiled, a moment by moment choice to choose the action that would reconfirm the witnessing presence. A moment by moment choice to live deeply into my days.