sweet darkness

perhaps you can tell, poetry has a special place in my heart. it speaks to me more clearly than prose, most often, and awakens parts of me deep within that have been dormant for a while. c, in her usual kindness, shared this poem with me (what seems like) a long time ago, and every time i read it, my understanding goes a step deeper. i hope that it brings you as much joy.

Sweet Darkness
- David Whyte

When your eyes are tired
the world is tired also.

When your vision has gone
no part of the world can find you.

Time to go into the dark
where the night has eyes
to recognize its own.

There you can be sure
you are not beyond love.

The dark will be your womb
tonight.

The night will give you a horizon
further than you can see.

You must learn one thing:
the world was made to be free in.

Give up all the other worlds
except the one to which you belong.

Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn

anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive

is too small for you.