A Contemplative Moment: The Lightest Touch

THE LIGHTEST TOUCH

by David Whyte

Good poetry begins with

the lightest touch

a breeze arriving from nowhere,

a whispered healing arrival,

a word in your ear,

a settling into things,

then like a hand in the dark

it arrests the whole body

steeling you for revelation.

In the silence that follows

a great line

you can feel Lazarus

deep inside

even the laziest, most deathly afraid

part of you,

lift up his hands and walk toward the light.