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Slow and Sweet

 

where to turn for true sweetness? slowly drink

tender streams of nameless soothing? not

related to fast rash harsh sugar stuff we

buy, are addicted to, but rather singing

swooning

 

flowing glowing snowing sowing

 

murmuring melodies, gentle waves quietly lapping

at the shore of soul’s secret lake, deep inside, waiting

breathing, listening with yearning ears, heart aches

can we pacify the savage greed, more more more

not enough?

 

going for the spectacular, advertised and sold as fun

biggest, loudest, fastest – are we too dull, deaf, numb

so insensitive, not even recognizing what is salty truth?

Playful life offers spontaneous steady sparks, small sacred

insights

 

creeping reaping weeping seeping

 

where can we taste slow and sweet? searching

between split seconds, confounding gap amidst an

in and out-breath, swaggering in sloppy slow-motion

seeking to amaze us, sweeping our cheeks’ smooth skin

snow

 

spiraling, sweaty starry skies, softly swaying sky-scrapers

sleepily swooshing, sailing, slipping, some are sobbing

but now let’s nimbly find sweet silence, hiding in dark

palace, or in rain? finally it appears on silky tongue

growing


sublimely serene silver surprise

 

sunflowers sighing, seamless Sabbath Saturday Sunday

single stories humming, strumming in summer’s straw fields

sharing glaring moments, contentment strung into shiny strands

filling timeless belly, ruby-colored wings stroking our chin, simple

signals

 

to be found

in stillness Ruhe

adagio at ease

 

lastly, it arrives past midnight

extends into the morning hours

softly, sweet mellow slow rain

delicious long embrace

cosmic pollination

 

in the warm bed in tiny cabin

limbs entwined with roots

bathing in the lullaby

yielding greenery

awake

 

all is humming

Dasein’s

Delight

 

Karina Epperlein, Berkeley, May 2026

 

Dasein = existence, being-there, beingness

Ruhe = tranquility, quiet, rest, repose, calmness

 

Afterword


It has been my calling and privilege to practice and teach T’ai Chi, Breath, Sound, Meditation, Chi Gong, Life. Over the many decades of exploration, words like “slow, still, simple, sensitive, sweet, smooth, serene” have been revealing to me their ever-deeper meaning. There is no short cut. Humility, not-knowing, patience, curiosity, and gratitude are our allies. Engaging with silence and stillness, even when in action, letting go of our agitated ways of meeting and forcing life. Sighing. Bowing. Balance. Center. Roots. Harmony, Flow, Awareness. To be visited every day, never attained, never fixed.  For a long time, I have been calling my classes The Art of Slowing Down. A different way of living, and being alive… perhaps now, being needed more than ever. 



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