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November 25, 2006
asking
by gl. at 8:44 pm
david whyte has a poem i very much like called "everything is waiting for you." but the thanksgiving trip gave me a chance to read the entire eponymous book (thanks, sandy!), and this excerpt from "september 2001" illuminated a part of my heart i feel is oft underappreciated:
You know, I must remember,
until my last breath goes out
to ask. To try, every time, one last timeto confirm the native
human intuition that heaven
is never far away at all,that it's just a door or a step
or a whole short life to get there.
I must rememberto stop people in the street
as if the most closed,
grey, concrete, commuting lifecould be just a skim
on the pool
of communal revelationand as if, in my continued hurry
I just haven't
given anyone or anythinganywhere, any time
to let me know
what's really about to happen....
I must remember
to knock on other doors,
to call out people's names,
to enquire as if my lifedepended on knowing
that something
always lies so closeand to remember that it takes
only one requited request
for the extraordinaryto make a hundred ordinary
encounters
up to that momentmore than extraordinary,
rare, numinous,
a harvestworth having,
no matter how difficult
to sow and reap.And that the angel always
has to elbow her way
towards usthrough a lot of unknowing
posted by gl. | November 25, 2006 8:44 PM | categories: writing