No Matter What is Happening

from Mother Poems and a Crack in Time by Shambhavi Sarasvati at Kindred 108. We're all kindred here.

Every day we choose some clothes.
But if we’re too attached to appearances
then in all this magical display
there’s nothing to enjoy.

If we have enough
yet worry about getting more
then despite the miracle of being alive
happiness eludes us.

If times seem hard
and we rail against them
fear distorts clear seeing and
we cannot skillfully cross
the river of circumstance.

Living or dying
if we care too much about
the times behind us
we cannot gain the fruits of
this supreme passage.

Life renews constantly
like waves continually
riding to shore.
If we only want to grow and maintain
while rejecting subsidence
our suffering will drown us.

Our Mother is
the living light
of infinite circumstance.
We rest in Her
awake, dreaming, living or
dying.

If you have recognized this 
try to remember
in every moment every day.
To do this is our sole aim
no matter what is happening.

from Mother Poems and A Crack in Time by Shambhavi Sarasvati

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