Tell me—please tell me—
what peace feels like,
she asked.

He sat in silence,
breathing into his heart,
and, slowly,
the feeling came flooding back.

Peace is like the great letting go…
It’s not mental, not intellectual.
And no one can tell me
how to feel it, he answered.

It’s a feeling…
that arises with a recognition—
a recognition of my
total innocence.

And I’ve sought
that,
for so long.
I’ve waited for many years
to feel it.
I’ve waited for many years
to let go of
what I’ve been carrying.

But this feeling,
it seems so fleeting.
I can’t access it for long.
It comes and goes
so quickly.
And I don’t know exactly
what it is,
or how it arises.
I just can’t work it out.
Even as I explain it to you,
I can’t get it.
It escapes my words.

It’s like an in-between world.
An opening—
a gap away from everything else.
It is a fire
and it burns
all concepts of wrongdoing,
until all that
remains is
innocence.
Beautiful innocence.
Shattering innocence.

Author: James Marshall

Image: Unsplash/Sarah Mak

Editor: Callie Rushton