Self Portrait

[Xmac]

Self Portrait

It doesn't interest me if there is one God
or many gods.
I want to know if you belong or feel
abandoned.
If you know despair or can see it in others.
I want to know
if you are prepared to live in the world
with its harsh need
to change you. If you can look back
with firm eyes
saying this is where I stand. I want to know
if you know
how to melt into that fierce heat of living
falling toward
the center of your longing. I want to know
if you are willing
to live, day by day, with the consequence of love
and the bitter
unwanted passion of your sure defeat.

I have heard, in that fierce embrace, even
the gods speak of God.

-- David Whyte
from Fire in the Earth
©1992 Many Rivers Press

[catherine]

Thanks, Xmac. Great poem--I love David Whyte.

Here's another somewhat n the same theme:


Passing Shot

I was I am I will not be
Evidence of eternity
A thought, a prayer, a whisper now
Begets me
Momentarily
But what comes next
But all that is
But it’s not but
It is what is

It is what is
It is what is
The thought breaks through
The empty space
The wall
The fire
The touch of grace
The dog is sitting on the bench
The grill is heating up the place

So tell me of tomorrow’s plans
Of what might be
Of what might not
Of crystal moments to be caught
While Time gives us
A passing shot.

--R.C. Carrera

[Xmac]

The moon snowed illumination down upon the evergreen
without consent or effort.
The evergreen
continued to appear.

[catherine]

Have I lived enough?
Have I loved enough?
Have I considered Right Action enough, have I come to any conclusion?
Have I experienced happiness with sufficient gratitude?
Have I endured loneliness with grace?

I say this, or perhaps I'm just thinking it.
Actually, I probably think too much.

Then I step out into the garden,
where the gardener, who is said to be a simple man,
is tending his children, the roses.

--Mary Oliver

[leslieann]

Thank you both.