Lac d'Annecy, by Paul Cézanne
In alleyways I sweep myself up
out of garbage and broken glass.
With my half-mouth I stammer you,
who are eternal in your symmetry.
I lift to you my half-hands
in wordless beseeching, that I may find again
the eyes with which I once beheld you.
I am a city by the sea
sinking into a toxic tide.
I am stranger to myself, as though someone unknown
had poisoned my mother as she carried me.
It's here in all the pieces of my shame
that now I find myself again.
From the Book of Hours II, 2
Starting from where we are means trusting the difficult -- we each begin with something broken, almost dead, and then find adequate words for that toxic underwater / womb-bound city. We find the buoyancy of song and make our way from there. This is something Rilke tended like a garden for decades as he grew his boundless Yes.- Brendan
ReplyDeleteBeautifully said, Brendan. Growing into Yes is all we can do. Even, and especially, in the face of so much No.
ReplyDeleteTragically topical.
ReplyDelete..I sweep myself up
ReplyDeleteout of garbage and broken glass..
such a good capture of our brokenness - how we try to put the pieces together - i knew he was a broken man - like most of us are broken in one or the other way. so here's the statement - no denial - and with it comes the hope
It's here in all the pieces of my shame
ReplyDeletethat now I find myself again.
This resonates like a bell, Lorenzo and Ruth.
xo
erin