Spirited away in the dark night,
I travelled to distant lands, other times
of strange expectation.
I return tired, the night work
taking more than day.
Crows circle in the morning wind,
the light of the sun a golden streak
on the rippling sea.
Always the going and return,
my heart wants rest,
to come still beside the moving water
and know I might remain
even as the tide rushes south.
To navigate the works of man
has been my love and calling
yet now I want to find mooring,
a deep set anchor in this sheltered bay
and settle in with the ancient stones
to weather fast the storms of winter.
I’ll grow like moss upon the rock,
speak each day with the quiet trees.
Silent as eagle I’ll stare across the sunlit water
and let the warmth find me
inside these gathered wings.
photograph by Linda Ethier
I really respect this tender urge to find rest, Don. Maybe it’s partly the closing of the year, but certainly more than that. Rest spread out in the motion of other lives and life forms is a powerful vision, and speaks to me of a deep peace. Thank you.
Don, a young voice such as yours ought to stick around and make noise for many years. Thanks.
I absolutely love this.
Just reading this poem I find a place of refuge and rest..You paint the beautiful portrait of peace and acceptance.. there are so many ways to Be in this life
Beautiful, Don. I recognise this longing for deep-rooted peace.
Lovely word images, Don. And Linda’s photo a fitting compliment, reminding me of some of her glass creations.
Lovely Don – centered in the warmth of divinity!
My internal night work is to love deeply, grieve deeply, and live life in tune with the rhythms of the universe. I draw great comfort in your restful words and being.
Don…that speaks exactly to where I am in my life now!
I too have been experiencing “working” through the nights …. as if there are inaudible calls to help, be on hand, do what? I don’t know.
Your peaceful acceptance inspires me to stop resisting the night-time turmoil and be awake as needed, and trust….
Thank you, Don.
Thank you Don, for the immense depth of yearning which animates this poem — and at the same time holds ALL in the place of poised presence and quiet readiness to send forth the message of Love, while going no more forth Oneself — the eternal ebb and flow, the Life blood coursing through these veins, powerful and passionate — but now I remain forever at Home and at rest. Blessed be the divine darkness and the light.
Hello, Don, thank you for this wonderful expression of serene peace. I feel it through my whole body and soul.
For those beings who might declare that old paradigm–“no rest for the wicked:–Let us invite them to breathe easy, withdraw from wickedness–and find rest in an even older paradigm–“May Peace be with one another.”
Don – Inside these gathered wings, I feel at peace and watchful at the same time. The sun does find me, and the warmth that comes thru these wings from staying put right here, I feel right to my bones. Blessed are the cycles of life, and the haven of being home. I feel your the spirit of your tender words. Thank you.