Blessings

For those of you who missed Monday's meeting, we heard passages from a book by John Donahue (1954-2008), called "To Bless the Space between us." It reminded me of the poem (in "Echoes of Memory" by the same author), which gave me such comfort 2 years ago when there was a death in the family:

Bennach (Blessing)

on the day when the weight
deadens on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you

and when your eyes freeze
behind the gray window
and the ghost of loss
gets into you,
may a flock of colours--
indigo, red, green, and azure blue--
come to awaken you
in a meadow of delight.



when the canvas frays
in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you
may there come across the waters
a path of yellow moonlight
to bring you safely home.

may the nourishment of the earth
be yours--
may the fluency of the ocean
be yours--
may the protection of the ancestors
be yours--

and so may a slow wind work
these words of love around you,
an invisible cloak to mind your life.

What You Can't Say

This has been an essay that is making its way around the Boulder Chapter of A.R.T.S. and beyond. It must reverberate with many folks. For those of you who missed it, here it is again:

http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html

The alchemists had a formula that can be offered as a short-hand reminder:

To Know; To Will; To Dare; To Be Silent

The Gutter Artist Says: Being Silent is not about giving up or giving in or being a door mat. It is about choosing your battles, or as the song says, "Knowing when to hold'm and knowing when to fold'm."

Doing What You Love; Loving What You Do

Here is another link of interest to readers of the book, "Hackers and Painters" by Paul Graham:

http://www.paulgraham.com/love.html