Peace Within

image from worldpeacediet.com

There is only one place where peace

can be found:

within the human heart,

when one learns to be comfortable

inside one's skin 

(which can take half a lifetime).

When one accepts herself and her own failings,

Compassion towards others increases.

We are all cracked vessels,

that whatever light 

we can muster

shines through.

When one learns

the peaceful acceptance

of Whatever Comes,

one imagines, at least,

that she can accept death, too - 

perhaps not others' death,

as easily,

but one's own.

Given so many are dying

all around us,

we know one day

our turn will surely come,

sometimes sooner 

than one would wish.

I have watched people 

pass through 

the end of this life,

and enter the next.

And there is a holiness,

at the end,

that lights the room,

as the spirit makes its passage.

The eyes light up

with wonder,

a hand reaches out

towards whomever

is greeting them

and, as the spirit slips away,

what is left behind

is simply a vessel,

newly empty.

In believing that our souls  go on,

that perhaps we have lived before

and will live again,

yes, therein lies

peace.

Mary Kling, tending the bar at dVerse tonight, has set us the prompt: Peace. Well, there are many roads to peace, and there are many topics with peace as the only hope. But, we all eventually discover, the first place to find it is within.