And then, life brought me across two different poems. One by a poet I know and love, one by a poet I'd never read. And already I love them both as if they've been poems I've recited for years. So here they are for you... ready to blow your mind, inform your understandings, and tug at your heart.
Heavy
by Mary Oliver
That time
I thought I could not
go any closer to grief
without dying
I went closer,
and I did not die.
Surely God
had His hands in this,
as well as friends.
Still, I was bent
and my laughter,
as the poet said,
was nowhere to be found.
Then said my friend Daniel
(brave even among lions),
"It's not the weight you carry
but how you carry it -
books, bricks, grief -
it's all in the way
you embrace it, balance it, carry it
when you cannot and would not,
put it down."
So I went practicing.
Have you noticed?
Have you heard
the laughter
that comes, now and again,
out of my startled mouth?
How I linger
to admire, admire, admire
the things of this world
that are kind, and maybe
also troubled -
roses in the wind,
the sea geese on the steep waves,
a love
to which there is no reply?
And this from Rumi...
I don’t like it here, I want to go back.
According to the old Knowers
If you’re absent from the one you love
Even for one second that ruins the whole thing!
According to the old Knowers
If you’re absent from the one you love
Even for one second that ruins the whole thing!
There must be someone… just to find
One sign of the other world in this town
Would be enough.
One sign of the other world in this town
Would be enough.
You know the great Chinese Simurgh bird
Got caught in this net…
And what can I do? I’m only a wren.
Got caught in this net…
And what can I do? I’m only a wren.
My desire-body, don’t come
Strolling over this way.
Sit where you are, that’s a good place.
Strolling over this way.
Sit where you are, that’s a good place.
When you want dessert, you choose something rich.
In wine, you look for what is clear and firm.
What is the rest? The rest is mirages,
And blurry pictures, and milk mixed with water.
The rest is self hatred, and mocking other people, and bombing.
In wine, you look for what is clear and firm.
What is the rest? The rest is mirages,
And blurry pictures, and milk mixed with water.
The rest is self hatred, and mocking other people, and bombing.
So just be quiet and sit down.
The reason is: you are drunk,
And this is the edge of the roof.
The reason is: you are drunk,
And this is the edge of the roof.
I'm off to bed, to read a good book :)
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