May what I'm about to say be a gift
(For John O’Donohue)
by David Whyte
The blessing of the morning light to you,
may it find you even in your invisible
appearances, may you be seen to have risen
from some other place you know and have known
in the darkness and that that carries all you need.
May you see what is hidden in you
as a place of hospitality and shadowed shelter,
may that hidden darkness be your gift to give,
may you hold that shadow to the light
and the silence of that shelter to the word of the light,
may you join all of your previous disappearances
with this new appearance, this new morning,
this being seen again, new and newly alive.
from The Bell and the Blackbird
The blessing of the morning light to you,
may it find you even in your invisible
appearances, may you be seen to have risen
from some other place you know and have known
in the darkness and that that carries all you need.
May you see what is hidden in you
as a place of hospitality and shadowed shelter,
may that hidden darkness be your gift to give,
may you hold that shadow to the light
and the silence of that shelter to the word of the light,
may you join all of your previous disappearances
with this new appearance, this new morning,
this being seen again, new and newly alive.
from The Bell and the Blackbird
At the Weekend With David Whyte, David told a lot of stories about John O'Donahue, his beloved friend, also a poet. I learned of both David Whyte and John O'Donohue from "On Being." This poem is in memory of an Easter blessing John gave at a sunrise service in Ireland. David said that it is very unusual to have sunrise services in Ireland -- "no one wants to get up that early."
My notes show that during this talk, David said, "What has not yet been said in you, may it become as gift to give." I thought it was part of the poem or of John O'Donohue's message. But I do not see it in either. I don't know where it came from. It pierced me. If only my words could be a gift, always. So often I have regretted my words. I need this blessing.
by John O'Donohue
"On this Easter morning, let us look again at the lives we have been so generously given and let us let fall away the useless baggage that we carry -- old pains, old habits, old ways of seeing and feeling -- and let us have the courage to begin again. Life is very short, and we are no sooner here than it is time to depart again, and we should use to the full the time that we still have.
We don't realize all the good we can do. A kind, encouraging word or helping hand can bring many a person through dark valleys in their lives. We weren't put here to make money or to acquire status or reputation. We were sent here to search for the light of Easter in our hearts, and when we find it we are meant to give it away generously. The dawn that is rising this Easter morning is a gift to our hearts and we are meant to celebrate it and to carry away from this holy, ancient place the gifts of healing and light and the courage of a new beginning."
Dawn Mass Reflections at Corcomroe Abbey
Walking on the Pastures of Wonder
John O'Donohue in conversation with John Quinn
Corcomroe Abbey