Love After Love - A Self Love Reminder

I often turn to this poem by Nobel Prize-winning St Lucian playwright and poet - Derek Walcott, when I need space to reflect. Each time I read it I am moved most by the line 'come, feast on your life'. It stands out as an invitation to me, an invitation to reflect in gratitude for all the twists and turns I have encountered so far. To appreciate that each moment (even the most challenging) has somehow led to self realisations, growth and acceptance. Our lives are indeed to be feasted on.

Transcript

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.

Reviews

Thank you 🙏🏾 12/16/25