Not Expecting Poem by Josh Mitteldorf

This is the doctrine that condones no doctrine,
the rule that forbids all rules.
Each moment fresh and free of expectations.

Without ritual,
we renounce our memories:
The past is not to be.

Into seas unknown,
we launch our empty vessel
and drift with eyes wide.

...and so with this enrichment of presence,
we are content
for now...

But paradox hovers in our rigid rejection of structure.
Some day, a transcendence will herald our enlightenment,

when we least expect it.