The Life After Tears

In the life before tears,

there are endless plans

and we avoid the difficult

feelings at all cost, as if grief,

pain, and loss are canyons

we’ll never climb out of.

But, then, one day, while

not looking, someone dear

dies, or a dream breaks like

a plate, and our world, as

we’ve known it, is blown

apart.

Then, we discover that

falling in the canyon is

our initiation, and

the river at the bottom

is the only water that

will keep us alive.

I wish it were different.

But the reward for being

hollowed out is that the

song then sings us.

A Question to Walk With: Describe a loss that has ushered you into the life after tears. How are you different for experiencing this loss? What does life on the other side of this loss feel like and what has loss taught you?

This is from my book of poems in progress, A Thousand Dawns.

JUNE 24-26: Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, NY, The Deeper Teachers: Fear, Pain, and Grief, Weekend Retreat, (web link) — IN PERSON

  AUG 26-28: Mercy By the Sea, 167 Neck Rd, Madison CT, weekend workshop, Reclaiming Our Humanity: Being Fierce and Tender in Our Call to Love, Fri 7-9:30PM EST Sat 9:30-5:30PM EST, Sun 9:30-1230PM, (web link) — IN PERSON

SEPT 16-18: Friday Night Reading and Weekend Retreat (Sat and Sun), Surviving Storms: Finding the Strength to Meet Adversity, The Sophia Institute, Charleston, SC, or call 843-720-8528, (web link) — IN PERSON