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Wednesday 22 September 2010

Celtic Wonder...


The Internet is a wonderful place, of reminiscence and shared memories, of laughter and song, love and light, friendship and a warm embrace...

It can be a shelter for solace, a trove of meaningful treasure and a source of glorious wit.

And the other day, unbeknownst, something wonderful crept up on me.

It whispered to my heart.

In the comments section of another writer's blog, on a day when that fair lady had written a poem as blessing to a friend who was mourning the loss of her daughter, the commenter had left this poem by the late poet, priest and philosopher, John O'Donohue.

These are words that spoke directly to my sense of self, and the grief I hold inside of me.

There it is, lying in wait like a seismic fault...

I offer it up to you now, so that we may consider the space inbetween our world and the next, and the power of time and healing...

I hope you don't mind.

TO BLESS THE SPACE BETWEEN US -- John O'Donohue

When you lose someone you love,
Your life becomes strange,
The ground beneath you becomes fragile,
Your thoughts make your eyes unsure;
And some dead echo drags your voice down
Where words have no confidence
Your heart has grown heavy with loss;
And though this loss has wounded others too,
No one knows what has been taken from you
When the silence of absence deepens.
Flickers of guilt kindle regret
For all that was left unsaid or undone.

There are days when you wake up happy;
Again inside the fullness of life,
Until the moment breaks
And you are thrown back
Onto the black tide of loss.
Days when you have your heart back,
You are able to function well
Until in the middle of work or encounter,
Suddenly with no warning,
You are ambushed by grief.
It becomes hard to trust yourself.
All you can depend on now is that
Sorrow will remain faithful to itself.

More than you, it knows its way
And will find the right time
To pull and pull the rope of grief
Until that coiled hill of tears
Has reduced to its last drop.
Gradually, you will learn acquaintance
With the invisible form of your departed;
And when the work of grief is done,
The wound of loss will heal
And you will have learned
To wean your eyes
From that gap in the air
And be able to enter the hearth
In your soul where your loved one
Has awaited your return
All the time.

6 comments:

Expat mum said...

Phew - powerful but very true in my experience.

Debbie said...

this is beautiful..thanks for passing it on.

Sueann said...

So beautiful!
Hugs
SueAnn

Unknown said...

Yes, tender words with a very important message.

Dragonfly Dreams said...

Powerful, so powerful. Thanks for sharing!

Fi from Four Paws and Whiskers said...

Beautiful.
I have saved it - too good not to share.
xx

Something I wrote earlier...

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