Breeze

Let mystery have its place in you;
do not be always turning up
your whole ploughshare of self-examination,
but leave a little fallow corner in your heart
ready for any seed the wind may bring,
and reserve a nook of shadow for the passing bird;
keep a place in your heart for the unexpected guest,
an altar for the unknown God.
Henri Amiel

There was a time in my early life—
   not early early, just early—
      when I would have scoffed at Amiel’s words.
“Make a place for mystery?!
We’re placed here to figure things out!”
My world was too small to make room for mystery.
And I was too small to give it room in me.
Nowadays I cannot imagine living
   without a huge chunk of mystery.
I have come to feel that knowing is overrated—
   too often it limits and confines.
Not knowing throws wide open
   the windows and doors of my days.
What would I do without that breeze?