Handle of the World

Handle of the World

There’s no place in the world,

like the Ship Ahoy dock,

the floating anchor,

that ties me to the one place,

where I hold the handle of the world,

against currents of tide and wind,

that threaten to sweep me away.

When will I learn the secrets,

Of eider ducks who swim,

up stream without a paddle,

Or gulls who fly like white kites,

without moving their wings?

Perhaps it is enough just to let go!

"The Still Point of the Turning World"

TS Eliot

Oh, have I ever spent time on this dock!  As the saying goes in Maine--"Sometimes I sits and thinks. Sometimes I just sit."  Either way, once on the dock, everything--I mean everything--is in motion around you--it all moves!  The currents with the never-ending flow of flotsom, jetsom--its whole world. In front of you, the ducks make their way as the gulls sail overhead.  Only you are stationary.  From that point, you can feel the one place where you can "literally let go" and be tied down. It's the one place to see yourself in the full flow of life.  For fleeting moments, you feel what TS Eliot wrote--"the still point of the turning world" where divine spirit pulls everything into the flow of life. 

Do you really have to be on a dock to feel that stillness which is so close to divinity?  Or, can we cultivate that habit in a special place, as the prayer reads, "where we may be still and know that thou art God."  Sometimes it is best to just sit--and be still.