Shall I Cry?
I’ve been ready to discover Israel as my future for a long time. It turns out, however, that there was at least one lesson that I needed to relearn before beginning this adventure. In the past decade of illness, medical emergencies and consequences, deaths, job losses and life transitions, I set up a wall to guard my heart, shutting out some of the pain. The consequence: not seeing the vastness of the joy and love, friendship and care around me. In order to go on this journey, I needed to stay awhile in order to remember the gift of you. Here’s a piece I wrote on the plane from O’Hare to Newark.
Shall I Cry?
Shall I cry at the last withered leaf of fall?
Or the lonely swallow?
Or my grieving heart?
Shall I mourn the past?
Protest the future?
Bury myself in these losses?
The leaving. The death.
Oh you sea of clouds.
Oh you curtain of rain.
Oh you silent yearning.
You arrive as messenger and guide,
Sent from the Source of healing,
The Source of radiance and wonder.
This soul cannot learn to love
In heaven, where only
The vast blue glory
Of light
Resides.
© 2011 Alden Solovy and www.tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.
If you like this prayer, post a link to your Facebook page, your blog or as part of a tweet. And don’t forget to click “like” on this page. Thanks. Please subscribe. For reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer! ”
Alden, this prayer is so poignant. It takes my breath away.
Thanks, Laurie.