Art by Beth Hoeckel
I want to know if you belong or feel
abandoned.
If you know despair or can see it in others.
I want to know
if you are prepared to live in the world
with its harsh need
to change you. If you can look back
with firm eyes
saying this is where I stand. I want to know
if you know
how to melt into that fierce heat of living
falling toward
the center of your longing. I want to know
if you are willing
to live, day by day, with the consequence of love
and the bitter
unwanted passion of your sure defeat.
I have heard, in that fierce embrace, even
the gods speak of God.
– David Whyte
This beautiful poem was introduced to us by our trip leader and yoga teacher Sarah Zandbeek. She says “It’s all about cracking open the mind and the body simultaneously. One does not open without the other, though there are exceptions to everything.”
