It’s hard to know sometimes
which step to take,
which path to tread,
which way to turn.
There’s clearly right and clearly wrong,
yet so many times
yawning space between:
right can go wrong
or the ends can’t be seen.

We humans make complex messes,
weaving knotted threads,
trailing choices – others’ and ours –
balled-up strings of disappointments,
triumph, unforseen consequences,
re-opened wounds,
sweet and sudden joys.

It’s impossible to know, sometimes,
what to do…
But far easier
are certain decisions:
to fight bitterness
– brew of poison –
to notice joys
– light of gratitude –
to keep prizing open our timid hearts
– miracle of hope –
and to hold up each quandary
high and open-handed,
a child offering
her impossibly tangled line…

knowing only the need
for sweet grace:
oil for jammed-up workings
rain on the parched earth
– peace in the eye of the storm.

(24/3/19 – In Maclean, for my sisters)