Solitude

the sweetness of listening to the birds

and to my own secrets

and to what resonates with a part of my heart

and to my heartbreaks

and to what is true

and then revitalized

letting it be

Grace

when the heart breaks

it breaks open

open

open for some grace to come in.

grace doesn’t heal the tender, painful wound

grace offers a flower

grace offers a warm lap to crawl into

grace embraces

grace offers unconditional love through it all.

Resilience

Resilience is a trait I have always been grateful to have in my repertoire. It keeps me going, keeps me “strong.”

Resilience is also a trait that encourages me to put my sadness, my vulnerabilities aside. Even when I acknowledge and think I “sit with” those uncomfortable feelings, I still put them in a box and add them to a “past stuff” pile very quickly. Of course there will still be a charge to those boxes and they are not filled with “past stuff” at all. I would like to open those boxes and welcome that stuff back in.

Instead of being the victor, perhaps resilience can be the companion to my sadness when I have lost someone or something. Perhaps resilience can be the protector of my tender vulnerabilities. I can keep my precious human feelings with me as gateways to the sacred.

Fire

• the fire at the center of me
  • throwing on logs of yearning
    • of sadness
    • of my own and collective grief
  • watching them burn
  • honoring the pain
  • knowing I need to jump in and feel the flames
• instead I grab the rope
• and endlessly circle the fire
• endlessly avoiding reality as if it is something I cannot forgive