Hello Dear First U Family,
Today’s poem is a lovely offering from Brendan Kennelly, whose message harkens for me the challenges of our current times. The author’s depiction of difficulty is painted with strokes of storminess – willows being tossed, hit, and mangled. Ours isn’t a storm of nature….in fact, I’m continually struck by how untouched nature is in this period. As I type this from my back deck the sun is in full array, the birds in full chorus, and the blossoms filled with busy bumblebees.
There is another kind of storm, though, that is raging, however quietly. One that harasses, confuses, and brings death, tossing our sense of equilibrium, hitting our sense of security, and bewildering our sense of the future.
Although it may feel like it is beyond our reach for the moment, my deep hope is that each of us will come to experience some semblance of the clean peace that arrives after a storm has passed. And that we shall indeed know what a storm can do to terrify our roots planted in apathetic clay in order to be made anew.
While we aspire for these higher-order things, let us also acknowledge the current challenges inherent in weathering the tempest. I’m thankful for the love and connections in my life (including you) that ground me during this windy wilderness.
In gratitude,
Lori |