A friend passed on this beautiful blessing to me. I could linger on every sentence for hours, it is so beautifully written. O'Donohue so tenderly describes the destruction I feel whilst humbly offering the comfort and direction that I must soak up.
Blessing for a broken relationship
Now you endeavour
To gather yourself
And withdraw in slow
Animal woundedness
From love turned sour and ungentle.
When we love, the depth in us
Trusts itself forward until
The empty space between
Becomes gradually woven
Into an embrace where longing
Can close its weary eyes.
Love can seldom end clean;
For all the tissue is torn
And each lover turned stranger
Is dropped into a ruin of distance.
Where emptiness is young and fierce.
Time becomes strange and slipshod;
It mixes memories that felt
The kiss of the eternal
With the blistering hurt of now.
Unknown to themselves,
Certain small things
Touch nerve-lines to the heart
And bring back with colour and force
All that is utterly lost.
This is the time to be slow,
Lie low to the wall
Until the bitter weather passes.
Try, as best you can, not to let
The wire brush of doubt
Scrape from your heart
All sense of yourself
And your hesitant light.
If you remain generous,
Time will come good;
And you will find your feet
Again on fresh pastures of promise,
Where the air will be kind
And blushed with beginning.
John O'Donohue
4 comments:
It is so great to see how John’s work continues to weave “words of love . . . an invisible cloak, to mind your life.” I want to support you in sharing that inspiration and love; and I am also responsible for minding the technicalities connected with the preservation of John’s estate and literary legacy.
John’s family would be very grateful if you would add to your quote a note that gives the title of the book from which the poem is quoted, as well as the copyright attribution ( © John O’Donohue. All rights reserved). It would also be great if you could provide a link to the web site: www.johnodonohue.com — so that those who want to know more about John can come to us!
warmly and with gratitude,
Lindaa
beautiful words. praying for fresh pastures of promise, kind air and beginnings when they're ready to be begun. a x
It is so great to see how John’s work continues to weave “words of love . . . an invisible cloak, to mind your life.” I want to support you in sharing that inspiration and love; and I am also responsible for minding the technicalities connected with the preservation of John’s estate and literary legacy. John’s family would be very grateful if you would add to your quote a note that gives the title of the book from which the poem is quoted, as well as the copyright attribution ( © John O’Donohue. All rights reserved). It would also be great if you could provide a link to the web site: www.johnodonohue.com — so that those who want to know more about John can come to us! warmly and with gratitude, Lindaa
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