I recently attended a gathering where this was read and I had a chance to reflect upon it. I hope it lights something in your soul as it did mine. (Originally published here).
Fire
Judy Brown
What makes a fire burn
is space between the logs,
a breathing space.
Too much of a good thing
too many logs
packed in too tight
can douse the flames
almost as surely
as a pail of water would.
So building fires
requires attention
to the spaces in between
as much as to the wood.
When we are able to build
open spaces
in the same way
we have learned
to pile on the logs
then we can come to see how
it is fuel, and the absence of the fuel
together, that make fire possible.
We only need to lay a log
lightly from time to time.
A fire
grows
simply because the space is there,
with openings,
in which the flame
that knows just how it wants to burn
can find its way.
Image via CC – Creativity103