In the midst of the blood and the fire and the fear of this week Our Lisa made sure that I saw this poem. Every image of it reached right inside me but it was the clear picture of someone holding a face firmly but carefully and kissing the emotional boo boo away that stirred everything up. Hold your emotional face gently and soothe it. We have to gear up to face another week of not knowing what will come.
The Thing Is
by Ellen Bass
to love life, to love it even
when you have no stomach for it
and everything you've held dear
crumbles like burnt paper in your hands,
your throat filled with the silt of it.
When grief sits with you, its tropical heat
thickening the air, heavy as water
more fit for gills than lungs;
when grief weights you like your own flesh
only more of it, an obesity of grief,
you think, How can a body withstand this?
Then you hold life like a face
between your palms, a plain face,
no charming smile, no violet eyes,
and you say, yes, I will take you
I will love you, again.
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perfect for where I am this week, this day, this moment. It's all going to be good, it all good enough to hold, cherish, and love. Thanks.
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