when i bow my head to meet my destiny—
the hard fact that will not bend—
the battle hymn of my ancestors fills my ears—
my breath meets at the point of yielding and resisting—
and as a soldier i pledge myself
to that which i do not understand.
Tag: verse
to the question of pain
there is only one answer:
surrender.
do not try to outrun it—
you only waste your breath.
do not cover it up—
you only compound it.
there is only one answer:
feel it.
feel it in all its senselessness,
in all its depth and fury.
once you have surrendered
to your one and only master
you are slave to nothing else.
as long as you’re breathing
sometimes we are lost in questions
which is to be lost in things unlived.
ghosts of the past, no longer alive
or ghosts of the future, not yet in form.
but we may make use of lifeless thoughts.
we may recognize the fear in them
and where there is fear
there is the chance to face it.
there will always be the question of giving in.
of loss
death
or any number of misfortunes.
but the choice to face fear anyway
is the end of lifelessness
and listlessness.
each breath you take may be a question:
do I have the strength?
the answer:
as long as you’re breathing
you do.
it is what it is.
Because it is.
That’s why.
This is the life you were given.
It has meaning simply because it exists.
Don’t run from it.
Face it.
Face the ugly parts,
the beautiful parts,
and especially the parts
that are beautiful and ugly at the same time.
Don’t try to reason with it.
Life does what it wants.
It won’t ask for your opinion,
and worrying won’t alter its course.
Life chooses us.
Our own choice lies in response, not in circumstance.
There is comfort in realizing you don’t have to orchestrate it all.
Given time, most things take care of themselves.
When we feel we have been denied something,
we miss what we have been given.
Honor:
the wound, not the victimhood;
the emotions, not the drama;
the pain, not the resistance to it.
Your coordinates in time and space are merely a starting point.
More important than what you make of it
is how you allow it to move you;
what you allow to bridge the gap
between form and possibility.
what if
what if
pain isn’t always wrong
tired isn’t always bad
boredom isn’t wasted time
what if
life isn’t about
feeling good
but about
finding meaning
what if
you create meaning
simply by
accepting discomfort
what if
no longer expecting
to feel good
is strangely liberating
what if
you can just rest
knowing that
who you are
where you are
exactly how you are
is just right.
intention
good news
for the hopeless:
to set an intention
means to plan
for hope
even if
especially if
you don’t feel it yet;
to set an intention
means to plan
for faith
not because you feel it
but because you dare;
intention
comes from the Latin
for stretch
& set
is an old word
for sit;
so
to set an intention
is to sit with yourself
no matter how hopeless
burned out
weary
even faithless
you feel.
& as you sit with yourself
& all of your pain
in time you may find
your spirit moves
stretches
reaches
through it
in a way that can only
be described as
miraculous.
so sit with yourself
dear one
& reach.
love note to an empath
your ability to feel—
that is your super power.
feel so deeply
that it breaks you
yet against all odds
you withstand the pressure
& inexplicably
remain whole.
maybe it’s your job to be broken
so you can teach others
how to be broken
& still shine anyway.
reason
maybe it’s not so much that everything happens for a reason
but that you can make a reason out of everything that happens.
another dimension
you see my dear you think
you are just a shell but in fact
you are as real and unimaginable
as the ocean you hear inside it.
meet me there
we must experience suffering
to release it in the magic of creation.
that’s what real art
conveys:
this tension
this opposition
between what hurts us
& what moves us.
what touches us
& makes us catch our breath;
when life slows to a halt
& the message becomes clear;
when exhilaration gives way to exhaustion
& breathless reunion gives way to solitude:
meet me there.
it begins with a deep breath
and goes something like this….
face to face with the sky 