Good Thursday, All! This morning I’m feeling drawn to the poem “The Swimmer’s Moment” by Margaret Avison…
For everyone
The swimmer’s moment at the whirlpool comes,
But many at that moment will not say
‘This is the whirlpool, then.’
By their refusal they are saved
From the black pit, and also from contesting
The deadly rapids, and emerging in
The mysterious, and more ample, further waters.
And so their bland-blank faces turn and turn
Pale and forever on the rim of suction
They will not recognize.
Of those who dare the knowledge
Many are whirled into the ominous centre
That, gaping vertical, seals up
For them an eternal boon of privacy,
So that we turn away from their defeat
With a despair, not for their deaths, but for
Ourselves, who cannot penetrate their secret
Nor even guess at the anonymous breadth
Where one or two have won:
(The silver reaches of the estuary).
———————————–
May our comfort zones be
a space in which to recharge;
a platform whence, refreshed,
we leap into another day.
May we have the courage
not to cling too hard to the rim,
but dare to fall into the whirlpool,
risk going under and run the rapids,
to a world of peace and justice.
Amen
