When Beauty brightens

A poem I have posted before, remembering those who have gone before us.

Though we need to weep your loss,
You dwell in that safe place in our hearts,
Where no storm or might or pain can reach you.

We look towards each other no longer
From the old distance of our names;
Now you dwell inside the rhythm of breath,
As close to us as we are to ourselves.

Though we cannot see you with outward eyes,
We know our soul’s gaze is upon your face,
Smiling back at us from within everything
To which we bring our best refinement.

Let us not look for you only in memory,
Where we would grow lonely without you.
You would want us to find you in presence,
Beside us when beauty brightens,
When kindness glows
And music echoes eternal tones.

When orchids brighten the earth,
Darkest winter has turned to spring;
May this dark grief flower with hope
In every heart that loves you.

May you continue to inspire us:

To enter each day with a generous heart.
To serve the call of courage and love
Until we see your beautiful face again
In that land where there is no more separation,
Where all tears will be wiped from our mind,
And where we will never lose you again.

John O’Donohue

Remembering on All Souls Day

Today is All Souls Day, the traditional day for remembering those dear to us who have died. It is still celebrated as an important day in the Latin countries, such as Italy, where cemeteries are covered in flowers as families take time to visit and remember. Sadness on occasions such as this is related to love, when we cannot be with someone who is dear to us. This day reminds us that taking a moment  for consciously remembering loved ones who have passed is an important inner practice in our lives.

All I know from my own experience is that the more loss we feel the more grateful we should be for whatever it was we had to lose. It means that we had something worth grieving for. The ones I’m sorry for are the ones that go through life not knowing what grief is.

Frank O’Connor

On love, on grief, on every human thing,
Time sprinkles Lethe’s water with his wing.

Walter Savage Landor

Being kind

Appreciative words are the most powerful force for good on the earth. George W. Crane

Most of us would not consider ourselves to be deliberately unkind. However, it is probably true that we miss many occasions each day to be more kind.  We ourselves can probably remember occasions when we were hurt by others not doing something – not listening, not noticing when we did something, not being there when we needed them. Being kind does not always mean having to give beyond our strength. The Buddha spoke of making  “offerings that cost nothing“, such as  a compassionate eye, a smiling face, and loving words. So let us do the simple things, such as being present, or acknowledging what was done or saying words that are within our capacity to say, knowing that our heartfelt words can make such a difference in peoples lives.

Kindness in words creates confidence,

Kindness in thinking creates profoundness

Kindness in giving creates love.

Lao Tzu

We are asked to love

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody’s business.

What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy.

Thomas Merton

On not being half hearted

Today is the Feast of All Saints. The easiest way to understand a saint – in the different world religions – is to see them as people who gave allowed themselves be surprised and consumed by love. They gave with their whole hearts, often not counting the cost.

Gamble everything for love, if you are a true human being.
If not, leave this gathering.

Half-heartedness doesn’t reach into majesty.
You set out to find God,
but then you keep stopping for long periods at meanspitited roadhouses.

Don’t wait any longer…

Rumi