I Want to Learn

Instead of rushing to resolution,
insisting on an instant fix,
I want to learn
to clear a space
for the difficult questions.

I would sweep away
the debris around it,
the panic and projection,
the angst,
and set the question
on the altar of my mind.

I would sit silently
in its presence,
until I could get comfortable
with not knowing.

Then, maybe,
if there IS an answer,
it would come
in a dozen little ways,
how it often does
when I don’t force things-

in an unrelated conversation,
in something I read,
or just as a sureness
that blows in on the wind
and settles,
like a leaf
before me.

By Maria Brady-Smith
Photo by Mike Smith