To Break a Promise

Make a place of prayer

Photo: © David Whyte

To Break a Promise

(Cúnga Fheichin)

Make a place of prayer, no fuss now,
just lean into the white brilliance
and say what you needed to say
all along, nothing too much, words
as simple and as yours and as heard
as the birdsong above your head
or the river running gently beside
you.

Let your words join one to another
the way stone nestles on stone,
the way water just leaves
and goes to the sea,
the way your promise
breathes and belongs
with every other promise
the world has ever made.

Now, let them go on,
let your words
have their own life
without you, let the promise
go with the river.

Now stand up. Have faith. Walk away.


-from David Whyte: Essentials

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