belonging (revisited)

i was sitting in the coffee shop with my dad

drinking a cup of coffee,

waiting to pick up my children...

and i realized how good it is to belong to people.

my dad, he has given his best years, all of them,

to my mom and me and my sisters and brothers -

to care for us because we belonged to him.

there is a bond between us - a fidelity - a union of lives;
part of my soul is inside of him,

and part of his soul lives inside of me.

i can't explain it, but that's how it is...

we belong to one another.

it is the same with my dear one.

we've been sharing love and joy and pain,

laughter and tears,

children and grandchildren now

for almost 30 years.

part of each of us lives inside the other.

i'd like to explain this to my children

but i'm not sure they would understand it.

it might sound more like restriction

than realizing that part of one's true self

belongs to another.

but maybe when i'm 80

and we're sitting in a coffee shop or somewhere else

they will see what i see now...

how good it is to belong.

maybe they'll see it sooner than i did.

-dan wills (b.1958)

life lessons

life lesson #49

(learned the hard way):

trying to carry

the weight

of the world

throws everything

off balance

wordless wednesday

emerging

when patterns are broken,

new worlds emerge...

-tuli kupferberg (b. 1923)

disintegration

Things fall apart;

the centre cannot hold...

-W. B. Yeats (1865-1939)

wordless wednesday

break the silence

i thought it was just me...and now

i find myself sitting here

listening to your story

and it's as if i'm looking

in a mirror...watching (hearing!)

my innermost thoughts

come out of your mouth...

my feelings, my fears,

my shame...and all this time

i thought it was just me

thank god one of us had the

courage to break the silence