THE WAVE for John O'Donohue You arrived as a ripple of change emanating from an original, unstoppable, memory, a then made now, entirely yourself, found now in the world, now as creator of that world, you were a signature written in sand taken by the ocean and scattered to another wave form, your disappearance only made more beautiful by the everyday arrival of a tide where my voice can still join yours, hungering for the fall of water, so that walking the reflected sand, I set myself to learn by your going, knowing across death's wide ocean, the ultimate parallel to friendship. - from Pilgrim and the upcoming new collection, The Seven Streams: an Irish Cycle
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This poem so movingly describes the duality yet singularity of the soul and the body. We come from an original, unstoppable source. Then we find ourselves in this body, a part of creation of which we are co-creators even if we don't know it. We are ourselves for a moment - an individual signature written in sand - swept back into the ocean one day. But not gone. We are just in the original form once again. Still in connection with everything that is, like the ocean connects everything. Still available to each other in memory, like a parallel and never-ending friendship. This is a love poem for John O'D but also for each of us as beautiful expressions of creation.
John O'Donohue... he is an inspiring and moving story that continues. David, whenever I read one of your poems for John O'Donohue, my heart is broken open with bittersweet gratitude, reaching thresholds and transformation. Thank you.