Lindsay L. O'Connor

Labyrinth
By Lindsay L. O'Connor

First
--ever the pragmatist,
though odd for a mystic—
I set my alarm.
You never know
what will happen in a labyrinth,
and it wouldn’t do to be late
picking up my daughter. (Again.)
Though my first labyrinth experience
was with a group,
this time,
I walked quite alone--
or so I thought, at first.

I walked at a slow, rhythmic pace,
my shoes noisy in the gravel,
stopping now and then each time
You tapped me on the shoulder.
After several of these Sacred Pauses,
You asked, “What do you want?”
“I want you to stop interrupting me!”
I smiled at my irreverence.
“I want laughter,” I said,
laughter having been granted.
Even now, I ponder
the practice of asking
for what has already been granted.

I paused when the winding path led me
underneath an overgrown vine,
had to hunch over to enter
the cocoon of slim branches and leaves
that dangled over the fence.
I’ve always loved respite in
cool
dark
hidden
places.
I looked around and above me,
spotting two ladybugs.
I noticed the shape of the leaves,
of the greenery I hadn’t fully registered
prior to this pause.

“Oh!”
An internal apology arose,
direct from my soul
to the plants and the insects.
“I didn’t even stop
to notice who was here.”

I’m not sure exactly when
plants and insects
became “who” instead of “what”
in my private thought life,
but it has made the world seem like
a much friendlier place.

“Who is here…who is here…”

The question opened the door
to awareness of all the beings,
past and present,
who were there with me…
the plants, bugs, and birds,
the people in the houses nearby,
the high school
and church across the street,
but also the ancestors—
mine and the land’s.
The indigenous ancestors who
once inhabited this stolen land,
the ancestors I carry
in my soul
in my memory
and in my body,
and all the girls and women I have been.

Suddenly this little patch of land seemed
packed to the gills
with countless sacred beings—
so many beings-per-square-inch!

My prayer was simply
being present with all of these beings,
and the bodily knowing that 
we are all together
in the greater Being of Love, Herself.

Read more about labyrinths and a guide for this spiritual practice here.