Poetry

Resting On Open Hands

What do I have that I can claim is mine?

What do I have that You have not first given me?

What by my own effort can I maintain?

What power do I have to keep even a single breath in my lungs?

What power do I have to guarantee even my own life for one moment more?

Do I pretend to know the moment of my death?

How much more am I powerless to try and guarantee even more?

Therefore, let me do away with false pretenses.

Let me cast aside the notion that by holding on with tight fist,

I can add even a moment more to the span of time these gifts are in my presence.

Let me live consistently with the truth of my own powerlessness.

Let me live with these gifts sitting on my open hand.

Let me be thankful for the time they are with me.

But be ready to walk away from them when they are taken.

Let me not lose focus and begin to think, falsely,

that the gifts are the light,

when they only reflect the light of the Gifter.