Better Days

Jordan River by Doug Clement Photography

Sometimes darkness is a friend.
We curl up in it, shut out the world,
safe in our peaceful isolation.
We dream, we dream,
as, underground, in dark earth,
blind seeds find their way above ground
and grow towards the light.
Our spirits are like that,
always looking up,
seeking that rainbow in the sky,
more light, more light,
trusting in better days,
our better natures,
refusing to give up the hope
that we can rise to being
all we are meant to be,
as a species, together.

Valerie Kaur begs us
to look with eyes of love
at the gorgeous diversity
with which this earth is flowered
(including us).

She asks, "what if this is our great transition?"
(the one I have long awaited).
She says, "what if this is not
the darkness of the tomb
but the darkness of the womb?"

She speaks of revolutionary love,
asks us to hear the stories of those
we find most difficult to love,
to look for that common thread of humanity
within us all, tear down man-made
invisible walls, and see what is left:
you and me -  human beings,
each hurting, each struggling,
each trying to find his way.

Of those most damaged, she says,
we don't forget. The forgiveness,
she explains, is to let our own souls
fly free.

Sometimes darkness is a friend.
We hide away.
Sometimes, in the darkness,
a new way forward is born.

I extend my heart and my hand,
in the sunshine lighting up
this darkest of times.
We have always been
two souls, journeying.
We are still
two souls journeying.

When we march together,
when we share our pain
and our stories together,
I watch the black edges
of fear and pain shrivel up,
see Hope seeding itself
in our hearts, shining forth
in our eyes.

This darkest of times may be
our time of transition.
Not the darkness of the tomb
but the darkness of the womb,
birthing a whole new way of being
together, in this world.

Inspired by Valerie Kaur today, one of the most evolved humans on the planet in this time of turmoil.
Watch her Revolutionary Love Ted Talk here.