This is an autumn poem, but it is also about beginnings, and so feels appropriate at this time of beginning for my blog. And it is about my mother, who died in the month of May, not long before Mother’s Day. I felt the energy of the end of the poem this morning as I was reflecting on the needs of my friends and the world and my own feeling of incapacity to really help despite the abundance of gifts that have been bestowed upon me.
Turnings It is a morning of new beginnings One of those quiet turnings That have changed my heart and life. It is very cold and clear The red orange sun is seen on the horizon A solitary bird circles in the sky. I am thinking of my mother Of her turn upon the earth Of her love and her devotion And of the wall that came between us. I was born in autumn In a city by the sea There is a lightness to the stories Of my first days upon the earth I was a laughing child And sunshine was in the air. Then came a change of season Suffering and sorrow came upon the land Many homes and hearts were broken Many words of love left unspoken In the hurry of that time. Maybe that is why my heart That is so full of love and life Yet forever seems tinged with sadness And I am never really free.