Meditation Retreat

By nature, I’m a seeker of solitude.
Yet meditating together,
and eating together in silence,
meets a need I cannot satisfy alone.
To my true surprise, I realize
I came here for community.

Walking meditation gives leave
to slow way down.
Permission to stop altogether.
To lean against a pine,
to stare at a blooming rose.

Silence gives freedom from discourse,
disperses social fears,
consolidates common intent.
Our energies join without words.
The comfort of silence covers us
with a single grand quilt.
And beneath it, each receives
full permission to be.

Some of the family, naturally,
irritate me no end.
It doesn’t matter.
I care about them because
we share this, because
without them, my meditation’s
less potent, less steady. Because
the community strengthens me.

At the meditation retreat, I dive,
not into the pool
of my usual experience,
but into an ocean, vast enough
to allow us all
to belong.

©Susa Silvermarie 2025