Perception of time becomes clear.
Everything known is past, except
what is here right now.
The future does not exist.
Desire, too, sharpens into focus.
The lessons of Epictetus
never felt more relevant.
“Well, should I not desire health, then?”
No – nor for that matter, anything
outside the limits of your authority;
and whatever you cannot produce
or preserve at will
lies outside your range.
Don’t let your hands go near it,
much less your desire.*
I want to unfurl like a flower –
body, heart, soul –
every time I whisper the word,
“Open”.
*Discourses, Book IV (Penguin Classics)