A Morning Dedication
Morning Sun Rays – Harald Hoyer
…To remember
the other world
in this world
is to live in your
true inheritance…
You are not
a troubled guest
on this earth,
you are not an accident
amidst other accidents,
you were invited
from another and greater
night
than the one
from which
you have just emerged.
Now, looking through
the slanting light
of the morning
window toward
the mountain presence
of everything
that can be,
what urgency
calls you to your
one love? What shape
waits in the seed
of you to grow
and spread
its branches
against a future sky?
Is it waiting
in the fertile sea?
In the trees
beyond the house?
In the life
You can imagine
for yourself?
In the open
and lovely
white page
on the waiting desk?
~ David Whyte
Excerpt from ‘What to Remember When Waking’
From RIVER FLOW: New and Selected Poems (Many Rivers Press).
8 Responses to “A Morning Dedication”
This is a lovely poem, but why write it in such short lines with little regard to the punctuation? I’ve never understood this way of writing things down. To me it breaks up the flow & one has to scroll down lots to read it! Hum!
Dear Jayne…
I can perhaps speak to your thoughts from my own perspective as a poet. I use line breaks like these when I want the reader or the hearer to find a certain cadence…to breathe and slowly discover the words as they fit into thoughts… I also think that spacing can assist in visualization… and can actually allow the reader to emphasize or be alert to certain words because the “punctuation” is implicit…yours to add as you read!Cheers!
This is just what I needed to hear this morning! What spontaneous Awen! Thank you for posting it.
Peace,
Mark
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Several reasons, Jayne. It slows the pace of reading down intentionally to engage the visual and kinaesthetic representation faculties and each line builds on the last, but independently, so that the partial sentence may wrongfoot you or hint at other branches of interpretation.
Fabulous, evocative poem, nicely written and totally inspiring. Thank you.
Ahh! This helps! After a very long headache of a day with more frustrations than usual, and home much too late, these words, thoughts, and the beautiful picture: reminders of what is true and good, ease the tightness of my clenched jaw; restore my perspective, and sweeten my sour thoughts! Thank You!
How amazing that I read this poem when I got up this morning after a troubled sleep. Thank you.
what a lovely poem , like a journey through the Worlds,a vitamin,
thank you
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