Loneliness

 

This poem sent by an old school friend

For Loneliness by John O’Donohue 

When the light lessens 

Causing colours to loose their courage, 

And your eyes fix on the empty distance 

That can open up on either side 

Of the surer line 

To make all that is  

Familiar and near 

Seem suddenly foreign, 

 

When the old ghosts come back 

To feed on everywhere you felt sure, 

Do not strengthen their hunger 

By choosing fear; 

Rather, decide to call on your heart 

That it may grow clear and free 

To welcome home your emptiness 

That it may cleanse you 

Like the clearest air you could ever 

breathe. 

 

Cradle yourself like a child 

Learning to trust what emerges, 

So that gradually you may know 

That deep in that black hole 

You will find the blue flower 

That holds the mystical light 

Which will illuminate in you 

The glimmer of springtime