There is a brokenness
out of which comes the unbroken,
a shatteredness out
of which blooms the unshatterable.
There is a sorrow
beyond all grief that leads to joy
and a fragility
out of whose depths emerges strength.
There is a hollow space
too vast for words
through which we pass with each loss,
out of whose darkness
we are sanctioned into being.
There is a cry deeper than all sound
whose serrated edges cut the heart
as we break open
to the place inside which is unbreakable
and whole,
while learning to sing.
Rashani
Dear Susannah, thank you for this beautiful poem by Rashani. I know first hand how absolutely true this poem is. When my son was diagnosed with an uncurable disease I experienced such pain and darkness, I fought against, and resisted this reality for a long time, but the pain was eating me alive until I finally got to a point when I surrendered to it, not collapsed but sort of relaxed into it and accepted it and it was then that I realized what one is capable of dealing with when there is no choice. I found a strength within me I never knew I had and I was able to see my son's condition through the lens of eternity; that this is a temporary, physical inconvenience and that spiritually, internally he is forever whole and intact. A few years later even my now grown son, after a long dark night of the soul, has come to the same insight, that eventhough he lacks strength physically, spiritually he has limitless strength. Here is a caption I wrote for one of my paintings: "She sat with her pain, and in her warm embrace, it melted and she came through to the other side where everything was poetry."
ReplyDeleteThank you again for posting that poem and for your wonderful blog.~Ann