Friday, December 05, 2008

David Whyte

Everything is Waiting for You

Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.

Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into
the conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.

-- David Whyte

2 comments:

Danica Nicolette said...

Gorgeous. This lead to a really great discussion between my best friend and I. She's going through one of those never-ending breakups and feels as if the world is going to forget about her. Thank you for always posting the most beautiful poems and thoughts.

Miss Whistle said...

I am so glad you like this poem. I was turned on to David Whyte by my clever friend MrsTay and oddly enough this is the first poem I opened of his. It's really rather wonderful. Have a lovely weekend and I do hope that your friend feels a little better.