Pausing at this moment
I can feel the slow rise of peace,
Rising inside my body- thick and full,
Like a long tide that’s taken years
To finally reach my toes as I stand in vigil
For the heart of the world.

I hold the vigil with each breath.
The vigil will not cease,
Though the world may rumble and crash;
The vigil will not cease.
Love will always rise
Again somewhere in the world.

The season reminds us:
Light will come again
Love will come again
It is the echo of the starts, the current in the water, the pulsing in my blood
Merging and rising again,
In every life,
Every heart, Every breath.

It is a peace beyond circumstance
With no reason or righteousness
It is fluid, full and unrestrained
As years move forward and
I learned to be more vulnerable in the face of fear.

May a wide river of peace
Flow through you and all your relations
As you cross into the New Year.

May we each feel the rise of peace
As the truth that always returns
As a possibility for the world
To live inside of us.

Beth P Riley
Dec 2003