Poetry - I Watched the World go by

I was sitting on a stool in the middle of an empty classroom

Someone or something turned out the light

I sat and I sat in the darkness and thought rightly or wrongly

Darkness is the absence of light

I was sitting in an aluminium boat in the middle of a river

Fish swam in the brown water and the wind rustled the tall grasses

There was no one to the left of me and no one to the right and I thought

Peace is the absence of war, of quarrels, of anxiety

My quiet friend from the east heard me through the absence and sighed

Is there nothing you understand? Is there nothing you have learned?

Dark is the soul and you can taste it

Peace is the soul too but can light the darkness

You hold the secrets to inner contentment

Inside you there are stillness and silence

Harmony will knit together tranquility and calm

You are freedom and freedom brings peace

I was sitting in a busy coffee shop drinking my coffee and looking out the window

The busboy was mad at his boss and slammed cutlery and china into a bin

Two customers were warring and shouting and one shoved the other

A woman demanded that she hadn't
asked for sugar in her coffee and wanted her money back

I quickly surveyed the darkness then looked into my soul

I found a little spot that I could cultivate

There was harmony and stillness and contentment

With my heart I looked there as I finished my coffee and watched the world go by