David Whyte is a favorite Poet of mine. During a recent visit to my friend Ruth's house, Iwas reminded again of his amazing talent when I found a copy of his latest collection of poetry.
"River Flow, New & Selected Poems 1984-2007." His words take my breath away.
Today I'm including one of his poems, "What To Remember When Waking." I particularly love his lines - "You are not
a troubled guest
on this earth,
you are not
an accident"...
Read it if you feel like it, I think you'll see what I mean...
What To Remember When Waking
by David Whyte
In that first
hardly noticed
moment
in which you wake,
coming back
to this life
from the other
more secret,
moveable
and frighteningly
honest
world
where everything
began,
there is a small
opening
into the day
which closes
the moment
you begin
your plans.
What you can plan
is too small
for you to live.
What you can live
wholeheartedly
will make plans
enough
for the vitality
hidden in your sleep.
To be human
is to become visible,
while carrying
what is hidden
as a gift to others.
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?
1 comment:
I, too, love David Whyte and so enjoyed waking up to "What to Remember When Waking." It's been a while since I had read it. A perfect way to start the day. Thank you Neinah.
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