Safari

As a tourist in a rich jungle
Moving mindfully through
The dense undergrowth of thought
Brushed by the many shades of green
Flora of your thoughts tugging at your clothes
And calling harshly from a high branch
A bright flash of feathered fear
Or swinging from limb to limb
Lumbering hairy anger
You note them all
Without judgement

After a time
Continuing deeper
You take flight from yourself
Emerging from the canopy
Body-less into a clear blue sky

Below you the jungle
Coalesces into a sea
Alive with movement
As its waves and eddies
Expand into every space

As you watch
You, everyone and everything
Dissolve into one
Great green seething mass  
Alive and growing

Exploring the oneness
You find you are
Enemy and friend
Plant and animal
Everything and its opposite

Behind the oneness you find
Intelligence
Inhabiting all and none
And you do not understand it
But you feel
Its irresistible love

Your body calls and you return
Awake from the jungle dream
And find yourself
Sitting
At peace

In your memory
Jungle, sea and sky
Fade away
Leaving only
Love

-- Tom Rubenoff