having loved enough and lost enough

Photograph by Robyn Gordon

 
 

Having loved enough and lost enough,
I’m no longer searching
just opening,

no longer trying to make sense of pain
but trying to be a soft and sturdy home
in which real things can land.

These are the irritations
that rub into a pearl.

So we can talk for a while
but then we must listen,
the way rocks listen to the sea.

And we can churn at all that goes wrong
but then we must lay all distractions
down and water every living seed.

And yes, on nights like tonight
I too feel alone. But seldom do I
face it squarely enough
to see that it’s a door
into the endless breath
that has no breather,
into the surf that human
shells call God.

– Mark Nepo


marknepo.com


Photograph by Robyn Gordon
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[This post was edited on September 25 2019, to remove broken links and add Robyn Gordon’s glorious photograph. ml]

the happy marriage of heart and mind

Beloved Life

Thank you for reminding me
of the delicate ecology
of the heart and the mind.
Like ‘you’ and ‘me’ they are
in Truth
not two
and yet, here they are –
miraculously apparent,
precariously balanced
and so easily
unsettled.

Thank you for showing me
for the millionth time
that the happy marriage
of heart and mind is
Love’s quiet intent –
which doesn’t mean it’s
a fait accompli; it’s so
easily overlooked,
abandoned.

Thank you for reminding me
that this marriage is
sacred ground, the source
of sweet sanity,
home of the beLoved;
yet oh so vulnerable,
exposed, open to every
distraction and desecration.

Thank you for reminding me
to take great care
with this fragile ecology of mind
and heart:
the One I call ‘mine’
and
the One shining forth
from all with whom I appear
to share
this brief
and wondrous Life.

– miriam louisa