We live in interesting times, maybe a bit too interesting for my taste. But I’m working on accepting reality as it is, even as I work as best I can for a better tomorrow. After all, what choice do we have? Accept the moment, or bang our heads against the wall and give ourselves a case of anxiety and a concussion.

That being the case, I take heart from this poem by Rainer Maria Rilke. It reminds me to inhale, exhale, repeat as necessary. It reminds me of the power and expansiveness of breathing, of beauty rendered from brokenness. It reminds me of the Japanese art of Kintsugi, repairing cracked pottery with gold, by gluing the broken pottery pieces together with a lacquer dusted with gold powder, highlighting the cracks rather than hiding them. Wasn’t it Hemingway who said, “The world will break you. Then you become strong in the broken places.” Well, I’m just sayin’ that after this year, we all are likely to be strong in a whole lot of places…

Let This Darkness Be A Bell Tower

Rainer Maria Rilke

translation by Joanna Macy + Anita Barrows

Quiet friend who has come so far,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.
Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,

what batters you becomes your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.

In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.

And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am.

Sonnets to Orpheus II, 29

From his last “Sonnet to Orpheus,” Joanna Macy tells us that Rilke has chosen to be with the darkness rather than hide from it. For Macy, that deeply resonates with our relationship to our planet. Yes to that, and I find it also resonates deeply with our current political climate.