In the Consciousness of Gathered Peace

A concentrated pressure in the chest

As if a new-born soul desired light

By breaking through the thick and hardened shell

That covers man and blinds his native sight.

The sages know it is the heart that sees.

Above the mind the spirit's power grows

In the calm where no disturbance comes

And in the silence where the breathing slows

One hears not by the auditory nerves,

One feels not by the tactile sense of being

But in the consciousness of gathered peace

A voice within us speaks; the inner seeing

Brings a clarity of vision and release,

To sorrow and anxiety, surcease.