What Matters Most Rachel Stanworth

The depth and measure of this life sometimes requires fictive corrections for certain truths to be heard.

You may need to write three words on the rib of a sheep and see what that tells you,

or with a sharp needle, prick out the veins of a green leaf to peep through and see what’s there.

Alternatively, to help you get your bearings, you could test whether your heart’s generosity is deeper than its well of judgements.

Perhaps you need to re-write powerful centrifugal forces holding you back from that still

centre you’ve heard about, might even have glimpsed, but know you can’t reach

without the span of a narrative arc or a poem’s guiding resonance. You might appreciate one of thosestories

that flows like a cold mountain stream, making rocky facts glisten in a new way. Facts you learned, facts you thought

you had forgotten; stepping stone facts, those you stumble over. But don’t worry about all that.

Don’t tax yourself over things like Truth and what qualifies. Perhaps what matters most in life,

is how loudly your last breath declares a lover’s koan. Everything else is detail, distraction, or preparation.