Jan Richardson's Blessing the House of the Heart

Hello Dear Friends,

Today I read the piece below, by poet Jan Richardson, to our hospice team.  Though the poem is written as a comfort to those who have experienced a great loss, usually of a loved one, to my knowledge no one in our meeting was so bereft.  Yet this poem for me speaks not only to the life-pivoting loss we each must come to know at the death of someone we care deeply for or even hinged our existence upon, but also to those many small daily losses - those that can, without our knowing, pile themselves upon us. Paper-thin layers of grief and emptiness, hopelessness and despair - at times so tiny we may not even notice them falling or may think them nothing. . . and yet, when we dip in to our own chests or bellies - - or realize we are avoiding doing so - - we may find that the weight there has left us unable to breathe, alone or starving in ways we feel we cannot bear. 

If this could be you, or someone you know, have a read of this gentle yet sturdy poem; see if it might reconnect you to something useful, something personally Heartful. . .  Here you go:



Blessing the House of the Heart

If you could see
the way this blessing
has inscribed itself
on every wall
of your heart,
writing its shining line
across every doorway,
tracing the edge
of every window
and table
and hall--
if you could see this,
you would never question
where home is
or whether it has
a welcome for you.
This blessing wishes
to give you
a glimpse.
It will not tell you
it has been waiting.
It will not tell you
it has been keeping watch.
It would not
want you to know
just how long
it has been holding
this quiet vigil
for you.
It simply wants you
to see what it sees,
wants you to know
what it knows--
how this blessing
already blazes in you,
illuminating every corner
of your broken
and beautiful heart.

—Jan Richardson
from The Cure for Sorrow

You can visit the author's website by
CLICKING HERE: JanRichardson.com

And/or order her book HERE.