05/07/2026
A Mind of Peace
When does the mind become
a mind of peace?
When do experience,
happiness,
and gratitude
finally sit at the same table
without arguing over the bill?
Is it in your forties,
when the noise starts losing its teeth,
and you begin to understand
that not every silence is empty?
Maybe wisdom does not arrive
like a lightning strike.
Maybe it walks in slowly,
wearing the faces
of the people we miss.
At forty-nine,
I find myself wishing
I could sit again
with my grandparents—
not as a child
half-listening,
not as a young man
too busy becoming,
but now,
with questions deep enough
to honor their answers.
I would ask them
what they carried,
what they forgave,
what made them laugh
when life was heavy.
I would listen differently.
Maybe that is peace—
not having all the years back,
but finally knowing
what they were worth.
And maybe gratitude
is the ache
that proves
love is still alive.
