! Love And Understanding Poem by Michael Shepherd

Who today would praise
consciousness itself,
which brings new life and thought
every morning, opening
our minds a little more,
making the light seem brighter,
everything more vivid,
life itself more worth living?

This morning, I read the words
‘Love itself is understanding’…

and in the mind, doors blew open,
windows rattled, a wind
that smelled of spring and grass and rain
blew through the mind

and the word love
blew off the dusty shelf
along with the cobweb
but lay unbroken on the floor
waiting to be washed and put back
next to understanding

and the silliest, biggest gift of all
is to know for the first time
what you’ve always known

and which nearly two thousand years ago
Gregory the Great
also recognised for the first time,
maybe felt the same way, as if
he was entrusted with the key
to a large house on a windy day.