LOVE AFTER LOVE

As we bid farewell to another tumultuous year of pandemic, or for that matter any other “normal” year, this is an apt poem to mull over life. Or more precisely my life. . . Life that can only be lived and experienced by me. . . Again I offer to you with no comments of mine.

What words or phrases are highlighted for you today? Ask yourself why. And listen for God’s invitation and discern your response back to God. Thanks for reflecting along with me.

A big thank you also for reading and interacting with my blog during this year. A good number of you emailed, commented, texted, and shared with me in person what resonated with you. Your kind words have been deeply encouraging and affirming. I’ve decided to write for another year (my 3rd) as I realize that it is a good discipline and outlet for me.

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

Derek Walcott