It has been so long since I read poetry. This piece of writing made me catch my breath, my heart ache, all while my stomach sank. I felt enchanted; filled with inspiration and a sense of being seen. I connected with it so deeply because my business name and core philosophy is all about returning to a state of wholeness. But sometimes the journey to wholeness is messy and painful. Sometimes things have been broken, there are empty spaces. But there is hope, too. And so in returning to wholeness we gather up the pieces and examine them, try to find out what fits where, and realize some things don’t fit at all. I will let the poem speak for itself. It is from Ellen Bass’s collection of poems called Like A Beggar.
The poem was read to me aloud by Tanja Krupa in closing for our Usui/Holy Fire® Reiki Master Certification weekend long immersion. It was a perfect way to capture the energetic shift into a new chapter for both my spiritual life, as well as my work as an Energy Healing practitioner. Look for exciting announcements about reiki offerings in the New Year!
“When You Return
Fallen leaves will climb back into trees.
Shards of the shattered vase will rise
and reassemble on the table.
Plastic raincoats will refold
into their flat envelopes. The egg,
bald yolk and its transparent halo,
slide back in the thin, calcium shell.
Curses will pour back into mouths,
letters un-write themselves, words
siphoned up into the pen. My gray hair
will darken and become the feathers
of a black swan. Bullets will snap
back into their chambers, the powder
tamped tight in brass casings. Borders
will disappear from maps. Rust
revert to oxygen and time. The fire
return to the log, the log to the tree,
the white root curled up
in the un-split seed. Birdsong will fly
into the lark’s lungs, answers
become questions again.
When you return, sweaters will unravel
and wool grow on the sheep.
Rock will go home to mountain, gold
to vein. Wine crushed into the grape,
oil pressed into the olive. Silk reeled in
to the spider’s belly. Night moths
tucked close into cocoons, ink drained
from the indigo tattoo. Diamonds
will be returned to coal, coal
to rotting ferns, rain to clouds, light
to stars sucked back and back
into one timeless point, the way it was
before the world was born,
that fresh, that whole, nothing
broken, nothing torn apart.”