Theme/Mantra: “I can dance even in a hurricane, if I stand in the eye”
Reading:
High Water Mark by David Shumate
It’s hard to believe, but at one point the water rose to this
level. No one had seen anything like it. People on rooftops.
Cows and coffins floating through the streets. Prisoners
carrying invalids from their rooms. The barkeeper consoling
the preacher. A coon hound who showed up a month later
forty miles downstream. And all that mud it left behind. You
never forget times like those. They become part of who you
are. You describe them to your grandchildren. But they think
it’s just another tale in which animals talk and people live
forever. I know it’s not the kind of thing you ought to say…
But I wouldn’t mind seeing another good flood before I die.
It’s been dry for decades. Next time I think I’ll just let go and
drift downstream and see where I end up.
Meditation:
Our meditation is another poem- but at the end of it, Mary Oliver finishes her lines with, “For some things there are no wrong seasons. Which is what I dream of for me.”
And I ask you to meditate on exactly this idea- this dream- that you are not out of season.
In what way does this hold meaning for you? Sit with this idea.
Hurricane by Mary Oliver
It didn’t behave
like anything you had
ever imagined. The wind
tore at the trees, the rain
fell for days slant and hard.
The back of the hand
to everything. I watched
the trees bow and their leaves fall
and crawl back into the earth.
As though, that was that.
This was one hurricane
I lived through, the other one
was of a different sort, and
lasted longer. Then
I felt my own leaves giving up and
falling. The back of the hand to
everything. But listen now to what happened
to the actual trees;
toward the end of that summer they
pushed new leaves from their stubbed limbs.
It was the wrong season, yes,
but they couldn’t stop. They
looked like telephone poles and didn’t
care. And after the leaves came
blossoms. For some things
there are no wrong seasons.
Which is what I dream of for me.
Physical Movement:
At some point today, find your way outside to a place where you can stand.
And feel the heavy wind blow on you.
Or the heat of the sun beat down on you.
Or the sound of the city envelope you.
What storm is brewing outside of the eye in which you stand?
Enter the fray, and then return to the eye.
Notice the contrast. Dance! What does it feel like to Blossom?
Reflection:
I think I used to always envy (at least a little bit) those who seem to never have a storm to survive. Those for whom life seems to just be smooth sailing. Truth be told, though- I don’t know if anyone actually fits that category. All of us have the storms that brew around us. Deaths. Coming outs. Lost jobs. Unexpected pregnancies. Falling in Love (the storm isn’t always a negative thing that shakes our world).
So how do we endure? How do we survive?
Sometimes standing in the center, as Brandi suggests, is the only way to keep dancing. Maybe that is true. I have been thinking differently about it lately though. I wonder.
I wonder if maybe we sometimes have to dance out there in the rain and wind- If sometimes we might have to look and feel like we are being thrown around that dance floor by an unfaced partner who throws lightning, and drops hail on us- because it grows us in a really important way.
I wonder if perhaps surviving that hurricane and blooming out of season is exactly what more of us already do on a regular basis – and we just need to remember to celebrate the growth- the blossoms, regardless of expectations and seasons. To live. To grow. To dance. To love. In spite of everything else- I think- has to be the point. At least sometimes.
Song: The Eye by Brandi Carlile
Lyrics:
It really breaks my heart to see a dear old friend
Go down to the worn out place again
Do you know the sound
Of a closing door
Have you heard that sound before
Do you wonder if she knows you anymore
I wrapped your love around me like a chain
But I never was afraid that it would die
You can dance in a hurricane
But only if you're standing in the eye
Where did you learn to walk
Where did you learn to run
Away from everything you loved
Did you think the bottle
Would ever ease your pain
Did you think that love's a foolish game
Did you find someone else to take the blame
I wrapped your love around me like a chain
But I never was afraid that it would die
You can dance in a hurricane
But only if you're standing in the eye
You can dance in a hurricane
But only if you're standing in the eye
I am a sturdy soul
And there ain't no shame
In lying down in the bed you made
Can you fight the urge to run for another day
You might make it further if you learn to stay
I wrapped your love around me like a chain
But I never was afraid that it would die
You can dance in a hurricane
But only if you're standing in the eye
You can dance in a hurricane
But only if you're standing in the eye
Until Monday- Peace
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