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Poems
Beyond Brokenness
There is a brokenness
out of which comes the unbroken,
a shatteredness out of which
blooms the unshatterable.
There is a sorrow
beyond all grief which leads to joy
and a fragility
out of whose depths emerges strength.
There is a hallow space
too vast for words
out of which we pass with each loss,
out of whose darkness
we are sanctioned into being.
There is a cry deeper than all sound
whose serrated edges cut the heart as we break open
in the place inside which is unbreakable and whole,
while learning to sing.
~Rashani Rea
I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance to live
so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.
~Dawna Markova
There is nowhere to rest your eye
That does not behold the face of the Beloved.
There is nothing here but you and God,
And no real harm can ever be done to either,
So what is there to forgive?
Ah, it's so hard to keep this perspective,
To remember the truth when things get crazy
And we fear the worst.
All I can do is go back to my breath
And remember that the Holy Spirit
Is what fills me with every inhale.
How could it be otherwise?
When we get it, all this anguish seems so unnecessary.
When we lose it, suffering seems to be the only option.
All things have their roots planted in the same sacred soil.
Nothing is excluded from the sacred ground of being.
What would happen if we could remember this?
What place would be unsuitable for a shrine?
Brothel or barn, crack house or cathedral: all sacred.
What person would not be another yourself,
A shining and holy face of the Sacred Mystery?
Remember this when you look at those you call your enemies.
Even your darkest secrets,
The things about yourself that make you cringe -
do you think the sacred presence is not large enough to include these?
How small our notion of God is.
How our ideas fail to even guess at the depth of the passion
the Beloved feels for us.
Open your eyes.
See, there is nothing here but you and the Beloved,
And no real separation between these two.
Now that ought to make you smile.
~Oriah Mountain Dreamer
Finally on my way to yes
I bump into
All the places where I said no to my life
All the unintended wounds
The red and purple scars
Those hieroglyphs of pain
Carved into my skin, my bones,
Those coded messages that send me down
the wrong street again and again
where I find them
The old wounds
The old misdirections and I lift them
One by one
Close to my heart and I say,
Holy, Holy
~Pesha Gertler
We have not come here take prisoners,
But to surrender ever more deeply to freedom and joy.
We have not come into this exquisite world
To hold ourselves hostage from love.
Run my dear from anything
That may not strengthen
Your precious budding wings.
Run like hell my dear,
From anyone likely
To put a sharp knife
Into the sacred, tender vision
Of your beautiful heart.
For we have not come here to take prisoners
Or to confine our wondrous spirits,
But to experience ever and ever more deeply
Our divine courage, freedom and light!
~Hafiz
From "Sweet Darkness"
When your eyes are tired
The world is tired also
When you vision has gone
No part of the world can find you.
Time to go into the dark
Where the night has eyes
To recognize its own.
There you can be sure
You are not beyond love...
Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
Confinement of your aloneness to learn
Anything or anyone that does not bring you alive
Is too small for you ~David Whyte
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