For When You Feel Lonesome (5/5)

This series of poetry readings is an invitation to explore feelings of loneliness when they arise.
This is #5 of 5 sessions, where we read Derek Walcott and John O'Donohue.

Background Music:
A Falling Leaf - William Claeson, Chance Encounter - Gavin Luke, Once in a Life - Howard Harper-Barnes, Familiar - Infinity Ripple.
Sourced from Royalty-free music available with a subscription.

Transcript

I walk into the forest and the forest walks into me.

Spirit flows as clearly as the creek here and I hear them both.

I walk and walk.

My thoughts shed like dead bark and lay on the path strewn with other leaves and twigs.

My heart,

Now light as the wind,

Soars like the wedge-tailed eagle.

I sing without having to open my mouth.

I start to walk back home and around the corner from my house bump into solitude.

We walk back together and find the couch empty.

The letter is still on the table and I pick it up to read the last page.

Love after love,

Derek Walcott.

The time will come when,

With elation,

You will greet yourself arriving at your own door,

In your own mirror,

And each will smile at the other's welcome and say,

Sit here,

Eat.

You will love again the stranger who was yourself.

Give wine,

Give bread,

Give back your heart to itself,

To the stranger who has loved you all your life,

Whom you ignored for another,

Who knows you by heart.

Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

The photographs,

The desperate notes.

Peel your own image from the mirror.

Sit.

Feast on your life.

A Blessing for Solitude by John O Donahue.

May you recognize in your life the presence,

Power and light of your soul.

May you realize that you are never alone,

That your soul in its brightness and belonging connects you intimately with the rhythm of the universe.

May you have respect for your own individuality and difference.

May you realize that the shape of your soul is unique,

That you have a special destiny here,

That behind the facade of your life there is something beautiful and eternal happening.

May you learn to see yourself with the same delight,

Pride and expectation with which God sees you in every moment.

I place the letter down and bring both hands to my heart,

Holding it in gratitude.

Thank you for being there.

Thanks for being the wise,

Patient companion.

I see solitude smile.

We get up and get ready for some creative work together.

Reviews

So lovely! It soothed my soul to its core. Helped me to integrate further passed ”mistakes” and shame. Let it all steep in the remembrance of my true self, the love that we all are.. Thank you from the depth of my heart ❤️🙏🏼

Ah, thank you for this journey. After 25 years of an up and down marriage, I am “free” but trying to lean into the loneliness.