Post
by daria » Mon Aug 16, 2004 7:47 am
This is a poem that sometimes helps me when I'm feeling alone, maybe wishing I had someone to be there for me, but nobody's around, or I don't feel able to ask for help; it helps me to find the strength I need in myself.
::cough::
That sounds cheesy. Just read the poem.
"Courage," Anne Sexton
It is in the small things we see it.
The child's first step,
as awesome as an earthquake.
The first time you rode a bike,
wallowing up the sidewalk.
The first spanking when your heart
went on a journey all alone.
When they called you crybaby
or poor or fatty or crazy
and made you into an alien,
you drank their acid
and concealed it.
Later,
if you faced the death of bombs and bullets
you did not do it with a banner,
you did it with only a hat to
cover your heart.
You did not fondle the weakness inside you
though it was there.
Your courage was a small coal
that you kept swallowing.
If your buddy saved you
and died himself in so doing,
then his courage was not courage,
it was love; love as simple as shaving soap.
Later,
if you have endured a great despair,
then you did it alone,
getting a transfusion from the fire,
picking the scabs off your heart,
then wringing it out like a sock.
Next, my kinsman, you powdered your sorrow,
you gave it a back rub
and then you covered it with a blanket
and after it had slept a while
it woke to the wings of the roses
and was transformed.
Later,
when you face old age and its natural conclusion
your courage will still be shown in the little ways,
each spring will be a sword you'll sharpen,
those you love will live in a fever of love,
and you'll bargain with the calendar
and at the last moment
when death opens the back door
you'll put on your carpet slippers
and stride out.
You'll find a place where you're beholden to no one
except yourself,
so let them come and see you standing naked
Full of passion, flowing inside out
into creation, becoming one with the present
So go get connected
unshackled essence
Let's f*ck away mortality, you might be independent
I want to get connected
so we can get electric
Then we'll set our souls free dancing into rapture
Immerse yourself in this moment...