A MONASTIC CALM

I Love You

"It’s evening,

it’s nine o’clock,

I’m at the window.

A timid moon is out

looking

for a kindred spirit, but

the sky is empty.

I who used to pounce

on every second

to make it surrender

and give up its all—I

am learning the art

of contemplation.

The best way to observe

a monastic calm

is to find oneself obliged

to do so.

To sit

at the window

drinking tea,

allowing the land

to ripple

through its nuances,

letting oneself steep

in the passing hours,

no longer thinking

of anything,

but suddenly seizing

a passing idea

and jotting it down

in a notebook."

Tesson, Sylvain. The Consolations of the Forest: Alone in a Cabin on the Siberian Taiga (p. 25). Rizzoli. Kindle Edition.

ART: Christian Austin “Kindred Spirit”