Chelan Harkin: When I Die

Well, this one makes me cry and touches my heart so deeply. Thank you, Chelan. Thank you. 🙏💜Molly

 When I die, dear God,
please, let me take something
of the mountains with me.

May I stow away,
inside some caverns of myself,
a glow from the moon?

Let me fill
any pockets my soul might have
with bits of silver rivers
and quiet moments
of starlight.

Can I pack a bag before I go
and bring only sunrise?

May I keep a souvenir
from whatever it is
Autumn does to the heart?

Of course I’ll keep the pang—
won’t I?—

of knowing I’ll never be
high or low enough
to fully hold
or bow to
the immeasurable kindness
of Love

Mustn’t it be continuous,
this sacred inadequacy
that at once sears and sings
and is the reason why
I grow?

How many songs may I take?

Please say you have room
for all my laughter

And the vast collection of diamonds
that are my tears

What will happen
with that kingdom
of love
that builds itself in my heart
as my daughter
clumsily and perfectly
toddles toward me
with the most wild grin
that is totally unhinged with joy
and chubby arms open wide enough
to somehow
hold the sky
and unconditionally enough
to embrace all
my limitations?

Tell me that
is an empire that cannot fall.

May I be rich enough
to bring remembrance
of the way
the jeweled stars
are set
in that great crown
of the night?

Can I bring a moment
of that eternal peace
found in the spirit
of the forest’s exhale
after the rain?

Please, may our passage
into the Beyond
only widen our access
to the spectrum of beauty

Though my wildest imagination
cannot possibly believe anything
could be better
than a naked sole
pressed into the dew-drenched grass
of this utterly love-soaked earth
woken early enough
to be kissed alive
by the dawn

Please, still, may the Beyond
be a space
where I may feel
a closer kinship
with the heart of everything
I’ve come to love
here.

— Chelan Harkin

💙

You can find Chelan Harkin's books, Susceptible to Light and Let Us Dance! Available on Amazon or signed copies from Waucoma Bookstore.

 https://chelanharkin.com/

 

Frank Ostaseski: To Welcome Everything Is an Act of Love

We like the familiar; we like certainty. We love to have our preferences met. In fact, most of us have been taught that getting what we want and avoiding what we don’t is the way to assure our happiness. Inevitably, though, there are unexpected experiences in our lives—an unanticipated move, a job loss, a family member’s illness, the death of a beloved pet—that we want to push away with all our might. When faced with the uncertain, our first reaction is often resistance. We attempt to evict these difficult parts of our lives as if they were unwanted house guests. In such moments, welcoming seems impossible or even unwise.

In order to experience true freedom, we need to be able to welcome everything just as it is. At the deepest level, this invitation, like life itself, asks us to cultivate a kind of fearless receptivity. Welcome everything, push away nothing cannot be done solely as an act of will. To welcome everything is an act of love.

— Frank Ostaseski

https://fiveinvitations.com/the-book/

William Stafford: You Reading This, Be Ready

 You Reading This, Be Ready

Starting here, what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers, what softened
sound from outside fills the air?

Will you ever bring a better gift for the world
than the breathing respect that you carry
wherever you go right now? Are you waiting
for time to show you some better thoughts?

When you turn around, starting here, lift this 
new glimpse that you found; carry into evening
all that you want from this day. This interval you spent
reading or hearing this, keep it for life –

What can anyone give you greater than now,
starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?

― William Stafford

 

David Steindl-Rast: A Listening Heart

 Eyes see only light, ears hear   

only sound, but a listening heart 

perceives meaning.

― David Steindl-Rast