I often turn to poetry for inspiration in my life. With everything going on during COVID-19, I am trying to balance keeping up with the news with reading words that are nourishing, encouraging and hopeful.
Everything is waiting for you
Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.
Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into
the conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.
— David Whyte
from Everything is Waiting for You
©2003 Many Rivers Press
***
You can listen to David Whyte sharing this poem on Facebook – it’s really very moving in our times: https://www.facebook.com/PoetDavidWhyte/videos/355462062025568/
May it offer you inspiration at this time.
Oh, Lynda ..
The beauty, drama and captivation of David Whyte’s poem and his performance of it still rings in my soul from my first encounter with it a few months ago. Thank you for giving voice to it here. I will bookmark this post. 💗💗💗
btw..fyi.. The Facebook link is not live, so we cannot click on it.
Hi Cheryl, I’m glad you liked it! I love all of his work. I really enjoyed reading his book “crossing the unknown sea”. Thanks for your positive energy in our IAJW community!
btw.. the Facebook link in the post isn’t live.. its not click able
Thanks for letting me know. I’ll try to fix it!