Advent, Day 7: I’ll Leave You Space

(Day 7 of this year’s Advent series. Yesterday’s piece was about moments that hold themselves; today we consider negative space.)

I’ll Leave You Space

Dear heart, I’ll leave you space:
I’ll quiet the seas
And close the mouths of lions’ roar –
I’ll welcome thieves,
If they take all and leave more
Room for you. 

This only gift I have 
To share: what I have not,
What I fill not, 
What is open in the center –

What I leave as space untouched
By best intent.

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There is, of course, a notorious phrase surrounding good intentions. Yet even setting that aside – I have never been so tangled up in life as those times I tangled myself, usually through…well, maybe not just good intentions, but a certain dash of “desire to perform the right thing” – gently muddled into the cocktail of “unrealistic expectations” and served at room temperature –

Let’s leave that glass to trap fruit flies on the counter. Put it down, set it aside, pull out an empty glass in its place; place that glass on the counter, too, then leave the kitchen.

Sometimes an empty glass holds everything it needs to.

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