A Blessing for Traveling in the Dark (by Jan Richardson)
Go slow
if you can.
Slower.
More slowly still.
Friendly dark
or fearsome,
this is no place
to break your neck
by rushing,
by running,
by crashing into
what you cannot see.
Then again,
it is true:
different darks
have different tasks,
and if you
have arrived here unawares,
if you have come
in peril
or in pain,
this might be no place
you should dawdle.
I do not know
what these shadows
ask of you,
what they might hold
that means you good
or ill.
It is not for me
to reckon
whether you should linger
or you should leave.
But this is what
I can ask for you:
That in the darkness
there be a blessing.
That in the shadows
there be a welcome.
That in the night
you be encompassed
by the Love that knows
your name.
A beautiful poem on this winter solstice for the shortest day and longest night of the year. No matter what darkness we may be facing in our lives, may we know that a light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. And that no matter what darkness we may experience we are “Encompassed by a love that knows our name..'”
Just as the days and sunlight will now be lengthening though it may seem imperceptible to us in the middle of winter, may my hope also increase in the truth that ultimately all is well and all shall be well. Amen.
Leave a Reply