Listen Here- Podcast Style
It is preoccupation with possession, more than anything else,
that prevents us from living freely and nobly.Bertrand Russell
The symbols of our conquests have become the judges of success in society. We count our status in the currency and accession of coin. Earning and acquiring wealth, the shining crown of our existence. Possessions and riches feeding the dopamine drenched grasp of addiction. Trophies fill our homes but remain empty to our soul. We run faster on the hedonic treadmill being chased by the fear of failure that nips at our heels and rips at our heart. Entitlement and expectations weigh us down. We become too heavy to move. Encrusted in the glitter of false gold that slowly becomes our armour, drowning us in the shallow pond of pride. Oblivious to our silent decay and in our own disappearance we slowly wash away.
Wash Away
As we age
we seem bent to spend our days
with the trophies that we collected
on our way through
Counting our coins
Caressing our marbled kitchen counters
Making love to our cars
Shining the precious possessions
that we could never take with us
The sparkle never lasts
as we try to catch a glimpse
of our own reflection
in their dazzling glimmer
We just keep buffing
Rubbing at the dust
Trying to hold onto
what can never stay the same
Wearing down the layers of time
as we rust in our slow decay
There is a relentless ache
that calls our name
As we strain to remember
we get out a bucket and a hose
and we quietly
wash away
© Jamie Millard
A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong,
a homesickness, a lovesickness.
Robert Frost
When is enough, enough? I look around surprised by what I have accumulated. A need for safety still a loud whisper. Beyond grateful yet knowing that in subtraction lies the journey to clarity. I live into the questions one word, one sound, one poem at a time.
Thank you for walking with me. The full audio imperfect podcast version can be found at the top of the article.
Bless you,
Jamie
Oh Jamie! ... Counting our coins... Caressing our marbled kitchen counters... Making love to our cars...
I prefer the "relentless ache, that calls our name"
Despite regular efforts to declutter, it is still surprisingly easy to accumulate things, to hang on to clutter we no longer need ~ just in case. Josh and I sometimes joke that we should have a storage room for 'just-in-cases'
As we age (such an evocative opening line) we are called to quietly wash away the layers that have been weighing us down. You have captured the essence of eldering. To become clearer and lighter. 💕🙏
RE the body - losing teeth is a funny experience because it is actually making me healthier because I was under a lot of physical stress from the infection that had gone on so long...and yet it is an odd reminder that we all fall apart...all our parts are just sewn together with sinew and electrons and love until we don't need them.