One cup at a time

“Just now the wren from Carolina buzzed
through the neighbors hedge
a line of grace notes I couldn’t even write down
much less sing.

Now he lifts his chestnut colored throat
and delivers such a cantering praise–
for what?
for the early morning, the taste of the spider,

for his small cup of life
that he drinks from every day, knowing it will refill.
All things are inventions of holiness.
Some more rascally than others.

I’m on that list too,
though I don’t know exactly where.
But, every morning, there’s my own cup of gladness,
and there’s that wren in the hedge, above me, with his

blazing song.”

~ Mary Oliver, The Wren from Carolina

As the light of day washes over you,
may you find the solid ground of your home within,
even if you’re can’t say where it is that you are.

As the rush of wind blows through you,
may you feel your deep spaces howl,
even when the origins of your echoes are hidden.

As sunshine scatters the cold around you,
as the earth warms beneath your feet,
as your heart beats you into your day,
may you your inner spaces bring comfort and rooting,
even when the direction is not clear.

And as twilight gives way to inky black of night,
as we spin into dark once again,
may you slow to rest, content,
may you embrace the quiet, silent,
may you fall back into the rhythm and hum of the earth,

To wake again once more on the other side of dark,
Certain again and filled with awe,
that you are here with your blazing song
no matter how uncertain your map.

“The human person is a threshold where many infinities meet. There is the infinity of space that reaches out into the depths of the cosmos and the infinity of time reaching back over billions of years. There is the infinity of the microcosm:one little speck on the top of your thumb contains a whole inner cosmos, but it is so tiny that it is not visible to the human eye. The infinity of the microscopic is as dazzling as that of the cosmos. However, the infinity that haunts everyone and which no one can finally quell is the infinity of one’s own interiority. A world lies hidden behind each human face…

Heidegger said it very beautifully that we are custodians of deep and ancient thresholds.”

~ John O’Donohue, Anam Cara