Sweet Darkness

In a yoga class last week, the instructor brought the last three lines of a David Whyte poem to our attention. The lines reminded me of the feeling of being a burden that prevents us from reaching out for help. It reminded me of the way that the people in our lives who make us feel at home won't make us feel like we're too much or not enough. And how our moments of aloneness and darkness can help us find who we are. This poem has stuck with me all week, so I wanted to share it with you.
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"When your eyes are tired,

the world is tired also.

When your vision has gone,

no part of the world can find you.

Time to go into the dark

where the night has eyes

to recognize its own.

There you can be sure

you are not beyond love.

The dark will be your home

tonight.

The night will give you a horizon

further than you can see.

You must learn one thing.

The world was made to be free in.

Give up all other worlds

except the one to which you belong.

Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet

confinement of your aloneness

to learn

anything or anyone

that does not bring you alive

is too small for you."

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I found this version here https://onbeing.org/poetry/sweet-darkness/ which includes David Whyte reading the poem.

As always, take what you need and leave the rest. I hope you have the week you need.

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Contributors, David Whyte is a poet and an associate fellow at Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford. He is the author of The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America and Consolations: The Solace, & Whyte, D. (2020, October 8). Sweet Darkness. The On Being Project. Retrieved December 14, 2021, from https://onbeing.org/poetry/sweet-darkness/.