Living Zen Life

Tonight's wind whips tree branches 
as the forestalled sun is cloud hidden.
My home is quiet but for clanging wind chimes
stillness and incense this spring eve.

Since my wife died 
I've thought myself lonely.
Difficult to think that - lonely -
a troubling feeling
hinting a kind of disease
a thing to be cured.

At length I understand 
it is not loneliness I feel
but the presence of solitude -
caretaker of the soul.

Stillness quietude calm -
solitude's sensual expressions.
I ought to have known all along
it is the very sanctum 
and refuge I needed most.