Free Meditation Download

‘Start Close In’

by David Whyte

“Start close in,
don't take
the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don't want to take.

Start with the ground
you know,
the pale ground
beneath your feet,
your own way
to begin the conversation.

Start with your own question,
give up on
other people's questions,
don't let them
smother something simple.
To hear another's voice,
follow your own voice,
wait until that voice
becomes an intimate private ear
that can really listen to another.

Start right now
take a small step
you can call your own
don't follow someone else's
heroics,
be humble and focused,
start close in,
don't mistake that
other for your own.

Start close in,
don't take
the second step
or the third,
start with
the first thing
close in,
the step you don't want to take.”
-David Whyte