Try to Love

Try to Love

– at a hard waypoint –
– in the dwindling twilight –
– on a rock-strewn path –
– i cried out for light –

– i found a small ember –
– where it had been planted –
– inside my heart –
– i cradled it in awe –
– and stumbled on –

Try to Love

I am profoundly fortunate. Many are not. I found a gift. I share it with you. This is the offering I treasure above all others. It contains a reflection of the bright seed planted in my heart, the shard of insight in my mind, the flicker of light in my spirit.

It is the clearest reflection of all these things that I have known to this point of my passage. If I died tomorrow and could leave behind only one item of material culture, it would be this song.

I offer it to you with no expectation. If it gives you comfort then it is FOR you. And if not, it doesn’t mean I would love you any less.

Saying YES to Life

This challenge is far from easy. Many, including some of those closest to me, hold religious beliefs radically opposed to loving the world just as it is. Meanwhile, our young people have been taught (irresponsibly in my opinion) that they have the both the duty and the power to change the world. I had that trip laid on me.

For those with a deep conviction to see and interpret our temporal manifestation as accurately as possible (and I fall into this camp), who will not avert their eyes from things we’d rather exclude from our consciousness, we find a world saturated with horrors that are agonizing to accept, let alone embrace. I find I am not capable of loving the suffering of others. The closest I can come is accepting that without it, nothing could be. All I can do is offer my love and compassion to those who suffer, and to honor the terrible sacrifices required of them with my deepest gratitude. For without the grave sacrifices of so many, existence itself could not be.

So that I may say yes to life, I will try to love.

Will You?