Anam Cara

Draw deep from your own dignity.

Temper your expectation to the other’s limits,

And take your time carefully,

Learning that there is a time for everything

And for healing too,

But that now is not that time…yet.

FOR CELEBRATION

Now is the time to free the heart,

Let all intentions and worries stop,

Free the joy inside the self,

Awaken to the wonder of your life.

Open your eyes and see the friends

Whose hearts recognize your face as kin,

Those whose kindness watchful and near,

Encourages you to live everything here.

See the gifts the years have given,

Things your effort could never earn,

The health to enjoy who you want to be

And the mind to mirror mystery.

FOR LOST FRIENDS

As twilight makes a rainbow robe

From the concealed colors of day

In order for time to stay alive

Within the dark weight of night,

May we lose no one we love

From the shelter of our hearts.

When we love another heart

And allow it to love us,

We journey deep below time

Into that eternal weave

Where nothing unravels.

May we have the grace to see

Despite the hurt of rupture,

The searing of anger,

And the empty disappointment,

That whoever we have loved,

Such love can never quench.

Though a door may have closed,

Closed between us,

May we be able to view

Our lost friends with eyes

Wise with calming grace;

Forgive them the damage

We were left to inherit;

Free ourselves from the chains

Of forlorn resentment;

Bring warmth again to

Where the heart has frozen

In order that beyond the walls

Of our cherished hurt

And chosen distance

We may be able to

Celebrate the gifts they brought,

Learn and grow from the pain,

And prosper into difference,

Wishing them the peace

Where spirit can summon

Beauty from wounded space.

ENTERING DEATH

I pray that you will have the blessing

Of being consoled and sure about your death.

May you know in your soul

There is no need to be afraid.

When your time comes, may you have

Every blessing and strength you need.

May there be a beautiful welcome for you

In the home you are going to.

You are not going somewhere strange,

Merely back to the home you have never left.

May you live with compassion

And transfigure everything

Negative within and about you.

When you come to die,

May it be after a long life.

May you be tranquil

Among those who care for you.

May your going be sheltered

And your welcome assured.

May your soul smile

In the embrace

Of your Anam Cara.

FOR THE DYING

May death come gently toward you,

Leaving you time to make your way

Through the cold embrace of fear

To the place of inner tranquillity.

May death arrive only after a long life

To find you at home among your own

With every comfort and care you require.

May your leave-taking be gracious,

Enabling you to hold dignity

Through awkwardness and illness.

May you see the reflection

Of your life’s kindness and beauty

In all the tears that fall for you.

As your eyes focus on each face,

May your soul take its imprint,

Drawing each image within

As companions for the journey.

May you find for each one you love

A different locket of jeweled words

To be worn around the heart

To warm your absence.

May someone who knows and loves

The complex village of your heart

Be there to echo you back to yourself

And create a sure word-raft

To carry you to the further shore.

May your spirit feel

The surge of true delight

When the veil of the visible

Is raised, and you glimpse again

The living faces

Of departed family and friends.

May there be some beautiful surprise

Waiting for you inside death,

Something you never knew or felt,

Which with one simple touch,

Absolves you of all loneliness and loss,

As you quicken within the embrace

For which your soul was eternally made.

May your heart be speechless

At the sight of the truth

Of all belief had hoped,

Your heart breathless

In the light and lightness

Where each and everything

Is at last its true self

Within that serene belonging

That dwells beside us

On the other side

Of what we see.

VESPERS

As light departs to let the earth be one with night,

Silence deepens in the mind, and thoughts grow slow;

The basket of twilight brims over with colors

Gathered from within the secret meadows of the day

And offered like blessings to the gathering Tenebrae.

After the day’s frenzy, may the heart grow still,

Gracious in thought for all the day brought,

Surprises that dawn could never have dreamed:

The blue silence that came to still the mind,

The quiver of mystery at the edge of a glimpse,

The golden echoes of worlds behind voices.

Tense faces unable to hide what gripped the heart,

The abrupt cut of a glance or a word that hurt,

The flame of longing that distance darkened,

Bouquets of memory gathered on the heart’s altar,

The thorns of absence in the rose of dream.

And the whole while the unknown underworld

Of the mind, turning slowly, in its secret orbit.

May the blessing of sleep bring refreshment and release

And the Angel of the moon call the rivers of dream

To soften the hardened earth of the outside life,

Disentangle from the trapped nets the hurt and sorrow,

And awaken the young soul for the new tomorrow.