Poetry
Poems for sivasana, bedtime and life affirming.
Guest House
Rumi
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
In Blackwater Woods
Mary Oliver
Look, the trees
are turning
their own bodies
into pillars
of light,
are giving off the rich
fragrance of cinnamon
and fulfillment,
the long tapers
of cattails
are bursting and floating away over
the blue shoulders
of the ponds,
and every pond,
no matter what its
name is, is
nameless now.
Every year
everything
I have ever learned
in my lifetime
leads back to this: the fires
and the black river of loss
whose other side
is salvation,
whose meaning
none of us will ever know.
To live in this world
you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it
against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the times comes to let it go,
to let it go.
To Let Go
Unknown
To "let go" does not mean...
to stop caring, it means I can't do it for someone else.
To "let go" is ...
not to cut myself off, it's the realization I can't control another.
is not to enable, but to allow learning from natural consequences.
is to admit powerlessness, which means the outcome is not in my hands.
is not to try to change or blame another, it's to make the most of myself.
To "let go" ...
is not to care for, but to care about.
is not to fix, but to be supportive.
is not to judge, but to allow another to be a human being.
is not to be in the middle arranging the outcomes, but to allow others to affect their own destinies.
To "let go" ...
is not to be protective, it's to permit another to face reality.
is not to deny, but to accept.
it not to nag, scold or argue, but instead to search out my own shortcomings, and correct them.
is not to adjust everything to my desires but to take each day as it comes, and cherish myself in it.
To "let go"...
is not to criticize and regulate anybody but to try to become what I dream I can be.
is not to regret the past, but to grow and live for the future.
is to fear less, and love more.
Let it Go
Danna Faulds
Let go of the ways you thought life would unfold, the holding of plans or dreams or expectations – Let it all go.
Save your strength to swim with the tide.
The choice to fight what is here before you now will only result in struggle, fear, and desperate attempts to flee from the very energy you long for.
Let go. Let it all go and flow with the grace that washes through your days whether you received it gently or with all your quills raised to defend against invaders.
Take this on faith; the mind may never find the explanations that it seeks, but you will move forward nonetheless.
Let go, and the wave’s crest will carry you to unknown shores, beyond your wildest dreams or destinations.
Let it all go and find the place of rest and peace, and certain transformation.
Apache Blessing
May the sun bring you new energy by day, may the moon softly restore you by night, may the rain wash away your worries, may the breeze blow new strength into your being, may you walk gently through the world and know it's beauty all the days of your life.