Walls

She builds a wall of thoughts and stories.

Vines of ideas carry blossoms and beginnings sharing the shine of beauty.

Music crawls over the side and drops like the sound of a gong.

Children smile.

Memories made.

by Caroline Truslow Reece

Projection: the art of experiencing oneself in another as if it was only the others presence, not a mirror of one's own presence.

Empathy: the art of experiencing another's  presence in oneself as if it was a shared experience.

My experience of this poem is just such a metaphor of  Projection and Empathy.

I see a field stone wall, about waist high, wandering across a lawn of fallen leaves, with an old oak, birch, or maple scattered here and there.On daily walks,  before flowers bloom, the scene is utterly other. I see, feel, hear, taste, smell the scene, attributing the sensory experience as that which exists in the scene.

While walking another time, vines will be filled with  flowers growing along the wall.  I see white trumpet like shaped blooms with green centers. I feel the bloom filled vine creeping gracefully along the wall. I see it shine.  I hear its silent song as my heart begins to bloom  a it drops over the side of the wall.

The gong resonates from every cell of my being.

As the children smile, the union with this poem becomes a precious memory which shines in my heart.


What's creeping over the walls you have built to protect yourself from possible pain?