POEMS ABOUT HEALING ...

Getting on With It

When the heart stops oozing blood

and the outpouring is clear as water

(so to speak) then you know you've

turned the corner and will be well.

When you look inward and all the pathways

are no longer dark but clearly lighted

and shine like transparent drinking straws

then you know you'll find your way ...

When the gray morning has nothing to do

with you and doesn't weigh you down

like a heavy blanket, then you know

that moving will be easy again and

your body will flow through time

like the river it really is, smooth and deep

no rocks, no shallows to smash or catch you,

keep you from moving on.

When the heart slows

to its normal rhythm and the beauty

of birdsong at dawn doesn't make you cry ...

then you know that everything has happened that is

going to for now, and you can get on with

your life and everything about it that was

yours alone and always finer than

anyone could ever imagine it would be

without him.

Grace Butcher

Your grief for what you've lost lifts a mirror

up to where you're bravely working.

Expecting the worst, you look, and instead,

here's the joyful face you've been longing to see.

Your hand opens and closes, and opens and closes.

If it were always a fist or always stretched open

you would be paralyzed.

Your deepest presence

is in every small contraction and expansion,

the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated

as bird wings.

Rumi