A Sabbath Poem (Whyte)

      SELF-PORTRAIT
      ~ by David Whyte

      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 know the despair or can 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 consequences of love
      and the bitter
      unwanted passion of your sure defeat.

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

(from Fire in the Earth, by David Whyte, 1992)

Comments

[courtney]

I live for these Sabbath poems. The sheer magnitude/depth of emotion they reveal and the internal dance the words in verse inspire in my soul bring me to true meditation and often fresh realization.

Thank you.