Friday, July 30, 2010

The Space Inside*

Tell me what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” – Mary Oliver, “The Summer Day” 

Pay attention (work hard), 
rest all that is not needed for the work, 
relax into the effort, 
feel how this pulse eases into hum, 
contributes to all others’ to make our lives more rich 
make us more joyful 
more alive to our gratitude 
more able to feel the ease from our troubles 
wash over us, 
leaving them sparkling, crystalline 
with salt. 

Invite them in, 
all those you think you cannot feed, 
who will fill themselves 
with exactly what you can give 
what they can receive 
from the basket of your compassion – 
your strengths, 
the limber moments 
between your daily plans – 
who will spice each bite 
with all you have learned 
to let go. 

Set the even table of your prayer for justice 
with the spirit you bring 
when flinging your loving arms 
to all you can reach, 
all you can harvest 
in this season that feeds us 
and the guests who bring us so much more 
than we can return. 

I will open the dark doors 
of my small home, 
feel the rooms grow 
as a vessel swells 
each time the water 
fills 
then hollows 
the space inside. 

*Interesting that I had forgotten a poem from 2005 called "The Space Between Us" Chapbook, anyone?
** I believe this poem was responding, in part, to the poems "To be of use" by Marge Piercy and "Love after Love" by Derek Wolcott.

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