The Labryrinth

by Robin Majeski

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My walk opens mindfully
on carefully laid slowly veering cobblesteps.

Like warm, vapor rising, memories return -
of convent spent weekends
providing a safe harbor and shelter from chaos and despair.
The presence of these nurturing nuns fills each step I take
beckoning me back to
intimate conversations,
shared meals,
chapel Masses lit by a flock of flickering votive candles and
the rhythm of liturgical life past.

This sultry August evening I circle the labyrinth, taking in outstretched verdant life.
Dusk descends,
a soft, loose blanket;
the steady, jeweled hum of crickets pulsing.
Thin spiky pine tree needles meet, like children's fingers
joyfully at play making church steeples and itsy bitsy spiders.
Tall wide trunked arching trees anchor the dance.
Each of my breaths is a river running through me.

Circling to center, I feel gently held by silken threads of time and space.
Heart Sutra strands echo within me:
no attainment,
no obstacles for the mind,
no understanding,
the path as its own destination.

From the apparent imperfect palm of now pours Nirvana. From my feet unfold the next steps of the journey.


Contact
Robin Majeski, Ph.D.
Director, Gerontology and Social Science
School of Undergraduate Studies
University of Maryland University College
3501 University Blvd East
Adelphi, MD 20783
Rmajeski@umuc.edu

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