Saturday, October 5, 2019

SELF-PORTRAIT


It doesn’t interest me if there is one God
or many gods.

I want to know if you belong or feel
abandoned,

if you can know despair or see it in others.
I want to know

if you are prepared to live in the world
with its harsh need

to change you. If you can look back
with firm eyes,

saying this is where I stand. I want to know
if you know

how to melt into that fierce heat of living,
falling toward

the center of your longing. I want to know
if you are willing

to live, day by day,
with the consequence of love

and the bitter
unwanted passion of your sure defeat.

I have heard, in that fierce embrace, even
the gods speak of God.


--David Whyte



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