ALL THE TRUE VOWS All the true vows are secret vows the ones we speak out loud are the ones we break. There is only one life you can call your own and a thousand others you can call by any name you want. Hold to the truth you make every day with your own body, don't turn your face away. Hold to your own truth at the center of the image you were born with. Those who do not understand their destiny will never understand the friends they have made nor the work they have chosen nor the one life that waits beyond all the others. By the lake in the wood in the shadows you can whisper that truth to the quiet reflection you see in the water. Whatever you hear from the water, remember, it wants you to carry the sound of its truth on your lips. Remember, in this place no one can hear you and out of the silence you can make a promise it will kill you to break, that way you'll find what is real and what is not. I know what I am saying. Time almost forsook me and I looked again. Seeing my reflection I broke a promise and spoke for the first time after all these years in my own voice, before it was too late to turn my face again. -from The House of Belonging
9 Comments
7 more comments...No posts
I find this a quietly powerful poem and believe, as the poem says, that if we can find our own self and image at the centre of our own story, we can never be untrue to our destiny. And I would add, we will never be alone again because we have ourself. That is the best company to keep! And like verse 13, I can confess "I know what I am saying....." because I "looked again" at one point in my life to find that aspect of self I was missing. And found it. "Hold to your own truth at the centre of the image you were born with." In a nutshell, I know that is the truth because "there is only one life we can call our own." One truth we can call our own. Everyone and everything else is "other".
Final reflection on the image, which once again I find so eloquent. I see the two sets of ripples spreading from the water's contact with the figure in the centre. One set is created by the flow of the water against the figure, which parts and slides by. The other radiates concentrically from the figure as it impacts the element in which it stands. I see truth and poetry there!! Thank you David for the poem and photo.
David’s words open up the spaces where transformation is possible. Its simple. Its deep. Its resilient. Its authentic. Its just damn good poetry. It meets us at the horizon of where we are and who we are becoming. 🙏❤️