From the lobby of the clinic at which the poet kept vigil for her heart medication today.

*****

Recorded Reading (3:35): https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/qp9ssn9ju372hlshn5u0b/Zero-Point.mp3?rlkey=slifzourduo3e6jje980gao4j&dl=0

*****

Zero Point

When all results of effort
To improve life disappoint
We abdicate the struggle
And return to zero point

At zero point we know
That all’s occurring perfectly
No matter how chaotic
Our surroundings seem to be

At zero point our own well being
Is of less pressing concern
More important seem to be
What lessons we can learn

From these the situations
Each one sets up for self soul
In order to become more wise,
Enabled, and more whole

At zero point though we may no
More have the strength a finger lift
We know even this weakness is
From the Divine a gift

For if we are preserved to see
Another joyful day
We’ll know beyond a doubt
That we had not a thing to say

Or do our own survival with
No strongest struggle we could make
From e’en a single battle
Would victory’s laurels take

At zero point the happiness
And the well being of
Souls around us closely gathered
We have come to love

For whom our well-earned gratitude
And our respect has grown
Is every bit as crucial
To our happiness as is our own

At zero point from off the path
Of rightness find we cannot swerve
For central to our soul we find
Inspiration to serve

The good, the right, the vulnerable
Helpless, dumb or weak
To lend our arms to feebleness
For suffering to speak

And though we face true evil
And dispatch it, we must always see
Its own creation in naught but
Frustrated misery

Even at zero point, it may
Well be for little that we strive
Our sacrifice apparently
Keeping nothing worthy live

Rescuing, receiving, nothing
Oft not even thanks
And hardly ever anything
Deposited to banks

There are, at zero point, some things
That we not only know
But see fit to remember
As through each dreadful challenge go:

No act goes unremembered
By Akashic scribes on high
And it will be impossible
For that record to lie

When opened up to give account
Our souls’ inherent content of
It testimony then will give
Of our dedication to love

And if, as it is, true
A butterfly’s soft wing may move
A torrent half across the world
Then it ourselves behoove

To monitor our motions
So that we do not disappoint
Shining angels round us hover
When we come to zero point

*****

This poet presently lives at a fraction of her nation’s poverty level.

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