The Guide

He was there, in a turbulent dream; a black man. Not the white of day, but the dark of the hidden, the obscure, the not yet uncovered. He the calm center; I the storm of emotions and of a mind racing without end. He showed me how to act. He showed me how to bear myself. How to bare myself. How to make the emptiness my friend and a powerful ally. Not demanding, not trying, not enforcing, not clinging, not manipulating, not hoarding. Just being. Just. Calm and aware. Filling the empty from the excess of myself. Constant, seeking to stay empty. A conduit, a channel, a river. Moving fullness into emptiness.
Every morning I call him. I put him on like a coat. I slide into him like a new pair of shoes. I see the world through his eyes. Accepting, unperturbed, still like a lake in a deep valley. Useful to all. Useless to my shortsightedness.
He promised me great riches. This too, I must accept, with empty hands.