Behind the Scenes

The breath doesn't hurt me!
No punishments, no threats,
It rests, simply quietly,
Renewing life. Sustaining,
Moment after moment,
Offering no comment,
No judgement,
The breath, breathing itself,
Moment by moment,
Undemanding, generous,
Waiting quietly in the wings,
All the while,
All the while.

Well, here I am again,
On stage once more,
Lights glaring down.
The characters know their lines, their parts,
So well, so well, as if born into them.

Here's a familiar one,
Pacing up and down the front of the stage,
Hands behind her back, head down,
Muttering and mumbling to herself:
''I've got so much to do,
'There's just too much to do!''
Stressful to the eye, stressful to be.

Right at the back of the stage,
In the corner,
We can see the mouse's tail,
Just sticking out behind the heavy, velvet curtains.
Every now and then we hear a high-pitched squeak:
''I'm so scared,
I'm so scared!”
For that is its only line.
It scuttles across the stage sometimes,
Getting under everyone's feet,
Causing them to trip over
And forget their lines.
It creates a lot of trouble,
Attracts a lot of attention
For one so small.
Funny how, tiny as it is, scared as it is,
It isn't afraid of the limelight.

The characters give the same show,
The same performances, day after day,
The same show today as there was yesterday,
The same yesterday as the day before.
Do they ever get bored, we might ask ourselves.

And all the while, all the while,
The breath waits patiently in the wings,

Generously providing life,
Moment by moment,
Not commenting,
Not criticising,
Not judging,
Calmly, peaceably, offering life, offering a different way,
Whether noticed or not,
Breath after breath,
There, waiting
Behind the scenes,
Behind all my scenes...