𝗚𝘂𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗹  (by Rolf Jacobsen)

 

I am the bird that flutters against your window in the morning,

and your closest friend, whom you can never know,

blossoms that light up for the blind.

 

I am the glacier shining over the woods, so pale,

and heavy voices from the cathedral tower.

The thought that suddenly hits you in the middle of the day

and make you feel so fantastically happy.

 

I am the one you have loved for many years.

I walk beside you all day and look intently at you

and put my mouth against your heart

though you're not aware of it.

 

I am your third arm, and your second

shadow, the white one,

whom you cannot accept,

and who can never forget you.

 

𝗕𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 (by Jan Richardson)

 

I cannot say

where it lives,

only that it comes

to the heart

that is open,

to the heart

that asks,

to the heart

that does not turn away.

 

It can take practice,

days of tugging at

what keeps us bound,

seasons of pushing against

what keeps our dreaming

small.

 

When it arrives,

it might surprise you

by how quiet it is,

how it moves

with such grace

for possessing

such power.

 

But you will know it

by the strength

that rises from within you

to meet it,

by the release

of the knot

in the center of

your chest

that suddenly lets go.

 

You will recognize it

by how still

your fear becomes

as it loosens its grip,

perhaps never quite

leaving you,

but calmly turning

into joy

as you enter the life

that is finally

your own.

 

(The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for Times of Grief)