Left Cheek Forward
Matthew 5:39
If you are one of those who fight
while looking, leading with your right,
relying on your will and might
while shutting off half of all light,
try facing life with your left eye
and watch the big parade pass by,
the great charade—don’t question why,
just let your eye fill up with sky.
You may be overwhelmed by fear,
but let that go, may heart be clear,
and sit in silence, soft and dear,
while what you do not know draws near.
And in that moment empty, brave,
when all you hear and feel’s a wave
of being moving past your cave,
it may surprise you what’s to save.
This little meditation on turning the other cheek (Matthew 5:39) is informed by my summer reading, The Matter with Things by Iain McGilchrist.
A study of the brain and its division into left and right hemispheres, this two-volume work is challenging and invigorating.
It suggests to me the experiment proposed by my poem: look at the world through the “other” eye, literally. That, for most of us, is the left eye.
Just try it, for a few moments, for one encounter, for the length of an episode of your favorite TV show.
Try it.
Wonderful, simple, and clear.