The House of Belonging

PHOTO-David-Whyte-2013-Writing-Desk

Photo and poem by David Whyte

Out here in California this week is our third week of the state’s ’stay at home’ directive. I am finally finding a bit of structure in my day to day activities. My work has been impacted and postponed for several months so I now have time for taking better care of me. My last blog “What You Mutter Matter,” was about the impact of words and how one word can change your feelings and reactions.

Today I want to offer a poem. I’ve been selecting a different poem every day to read to connect me with another world and another’s view. This poem by David Whyte was presented to me and I found comfort in The House of Belonging. I hope you do too.

 

I awoke
this morning
in the gold light
turning this way
and that

thinking for
a moment
it was one
day
like any other

But
the veil had gone
from my
darkened heart
and
I thought

it must have been
the first
easy rhythm
with which I breathed
myself to sleep.

It must have been
the prayer I said
speaking to the otherness
of the night.

And
I thought
this is the good day
you could
meet your love,

this is the black day
someone close
to you could die.

This is the day
you realize
how easily the thread
is broken
between this world
and the next

and I found myself
sitting up
in the quiet pathway
of light,

the tawny
close-grained cedar
burning round
me like fire
and all the angels of this housely
heaven ascending
through the first
roof of light
the sun has made.

This is the bright home
is which I live,
this is where
I ask
my friends
to come,
this is where I want
to love all the things
it has taken me so long
to learn to love.

This is the temple
of my adult aloneness
and I belong
to that aloneness
as I belong to my life.

There is no house
like the house of belonging.

 

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