Thursday, December 30, 2010

Thursday Poem - At the End of the Year

The particular mind of the ocean
Filling the coastline's longing
With such brief harvest
Of elegant, vanishing waves
Is like the mind of time
Opening us shapes of days.

As this year draws to its end,
We give thanks for the gifts it brought
And how they became inlaid within
Where neither time nor tide can touch them.

The days when the veil lifted
And the soul could see delight;
When a quiver caressed the heart
In the sheer exuberance of being here.

Surprises that came awake
In forgotten corners of old fields
Where expectation seemed to have quenched.

The slow, brooding times
When all was awkward
And the wave in the mind
Pierced every sore with salt.

The darkened days that stopped
The confidence of the dawn.

Days when beloved faces shone brighter
With light from beyond themselves;
And from the granite of some secret sorrow
A stream of buried tears loosened.

We bless this year for all we learned,
For all we loved and lost
And for the quiet way it brought us
Nearer to our invisible destination.

John O'Donohue,
from To Bless the Space Between Us

5 comments:

One Woman's Journey - a journal being written from Woodhaven - her cottage in the woods. said...

I love this poem...
Thank you for your 2010 special friendship, images and your sharing.

the wild magnolia said...

Great poem, I love his poetry.

Thank you.

Angie said...

I hope you don't mind---I have this book also, and would like to post this on my blog as well. Wishes for a New Year full of all the beauty of this magical realm around us.

donna said...

great poem, great book, great man.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for a year of insight, beauty and joy. May 2011 be full of joy and peace for you!