May it be so

This was written for me by a friend and left in comments and I think it is too precious to hide there. Thank you Kel!

as you sit by this grave
daring to name memories
and mourning resultant loss
may you feel the presence of
the one
who as you said
carried this for you
until you were ready

at the foot of this gravestone
i see a rosebud
i believe it will bloom and unfurl
into the fully fragrant rose
it was created to be

may it be so

Finding the right name

There is nothing in your life
too terrible or too sad
that will not be your friend
when you find the right name to call it,
and calling it by its own name
hastening
it will come upright to your side.

--Laurens van der Post

Finding Rebirth

Strangely enough, as anguish rises up in us, a new freedom comes to birth. We discover more deeply the small, innocent, trusting child within us; we discover new life.

- Jean Vanier, Seeing Beyond Depression, p. 69

Clear a decent shelter

You must be able to bear your sorrow; even if it seems to crush you, you will be able to stand up again, for human beings are so strong, and your sorrow must become an integral part of yourself, part of your body and your soul, you mustn't run away from it, but bear it like an adult.... Give your sorrow all the space and shelter in yourself that is its due, for if everyone bears his grief honestly and courageously, the sorrow that now fills the world will abate.

But if you do not clear a decent shelter for your sorrow, and instead reserve most of the space inside you for hatred and thoughts of revenge--from which new sorrows will be born for others--then sorrow will never cease in this world and will multiply. And if you have given sorrow the space its gentle origins demand, then you may truly say: life is beautiful and so rich. So beautiful and so rich that it makes you want to believe in God.

Source: Etty Hillesum, An Interrupted Life

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