Poetry Bob joins Kyle and Brittany to explore David Whyte's foundational poem, A Seeming Stillness. Once again we open the question of how we want to be in this world, with ourselves, and with everyone and everything else. Why do we seem so determined to deny our own vulnerability? We don't have all the answers, but we hope you are helped by our questions. 

A Seeming Stillness - by David Whyte

We love the movement in a seeming stillness, 

the breath in the body of the loved one sleeping,

the highest leaves in the silent wood, 

a great migration in the sky above: the waters of the earth, 

the blood in the body, the first, soft, stir in the silence beneath a strident voice, 

the internal hands of our mind,

always searching for touch, thoughts seeking other thoughts, 

seeking other minds, the great arrival of form

through all our hidden themes.

And this breath, in this body, able just for a moment to give and to take, 

to ask and be told, to find and be found, 

to bless and be blessed, to hold and be held.

We are all a sun-lit moment come from a long darkness, 

what moves us always comes from what is hidden, 

what seems to be said so suddenly has lived in the body for a long, long time.

Our life like a breath, then, a give and a take, a bridge, a central movement, 

between singing a separate self and learning to be selfless.

Breathe then, as if breathing for the first time, 

as if remembering with what difficulty you came into the world, 

what strength it took to make that first impossible in-breath, 

into a cry to be heard by the world.

Your essence has always been that first vulnerability of being found, 

of being heard and of being seen, and from the beginning

the one who has always needed, 

and been given, so much invisible help.

This is how you were when you first came into the world, 

this is how you were when you took your first breath in that world, 

this is how you are now, 

all unawares, in your new body and your new life, 

this is the raw vulnerability of your every day, 

and this is how you will want to be, and be remembered, 

when you leave the world.