Oct 30 Tip: Savor poet David Whyte's extraordinary "Start Close In"

Savor poet David Whyte's  extraordinary "Start Close In

(The October 30 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=030YqrN4SFc

START CLOSE IN 

Start close in, 
don't take the second step 
or the third, 
start with the first 
thing 
close in, 
the step you don't want to take. 

Start with 
the ground 
you know, 
the pale ground 
beneath your feet, 
your own 
way of starting 
the conversation. 

Start with your own 
question, 
give up on other 
people's questions, 
don't let them 
smother something 
simple.

To find 
another's voice 
follow 
your own voice, 
wait until 
that voice 
becomes a 
private ear 
listening 
to another.

Start right now 
take a small step 
you can call your own 
don't follow 
someone else's 
heroics, be humble 
and focused, 
start close in, 
don't mistake 
that other 
for your own. 

Start close in, 
don't take the second step 
or the third, 
start with the first 
thing 
close in, 
the step you don't want to take.