Hi Everyone,
This is another poem for our serial readings. The poem is “The Titmouse” from A Permeable Life: Poems and Essays.
“There it is in the apple of every new notion. There it is in the scar healed over what was broken. In the branches in the whispering, in the silence and the sighs. In the curious promise of limited time.” Carrie Newcomer “From Every Little Bit of It” on the album A Permeable Life
This is a poem about an experience of being with a small wounded bird, and thinking about the mystery of this life. The first time I looked into my daughters eyes it was utterly clear to me that her spirit was there, something uniquely her, beautiful and newly arrived from the great mystery - still shining with the light of that mystery in the way newborns do. Holding hands with my mother as she passed, it was also clear that something that was so uniquely her had passed into her next relationship with mystery.
Spiritual traditions have many ways of describing the story of our ongoing relationship with mystery. Personally, at least at this point in my life, I don’t try to fill in the blanks too much. But what I do know is that there was a light that came into the world with me, and while I am here, it is so important to shine that light, to express that light, to love and cherish that light in others - including a the light of a little gray titmouse - as well as I know how.
Today is called Ash Wednesday in one tradition’s spiritual calendar. It is thought to be a day to contemplate our unfolding relationship to mystery, honor that we are made of the good elements of this earth, and to hold in trust and appreciation what shines within us and around us - and the curious promise of limited time.
Thanks for Listening!
Carrie
Question
What does this poem bring up for you. Have you ever sensed a mysterious or beautiful light within an animal, a tree, a person?
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