3.14.2007

On the Loneliness We All Feel

The loneliness we all feel,
The terrible low moan behind the scrim of our weekday mind,
Is the vastness of Space pressing in on us.

It is the indifferent howling of solar winds
And the crunch of crustaceans
In the black hold of the deepest seabed.

On the bitter mountaintops
Of distant stars,
Some part of us is keening.

And here, as we daily struggle,
We hear that keening and feel
The fear just behind our thoughts
And we think,

"i am so lonely.
If i could just find . . ."

Know that what you are looking for
Is another part of your self,
Carved off,
Risen up,
Left as a husk;

A shattered vessel
That held the beginnings of you
Ageless eons ago.

As you make your way back,
You will see your earthly loneliness
As a little thing --
A mood, a memento,

A little shard under your nail,

Reminding you that the Greater Self
Also is feeling your absence.

Tugging at you. Calling you back.

Do not be afraid. In time, you will go,
And the call will have been answered.
This troubled nap,
This brief war
We call life
Will seem to you

A statement of boundless love
From the Self
To the smallest part
And all
Of you.

Know this now,
And let the loneliness
Leach from your bones
And rise to the sky,
Where all of us
In every moment,
Even the last,
Rise
To meet
And know
And rejoice.

--Mr. Gobley

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

My best young friend is in the Air Force- she's 19 and a part of this family's soul. She called last night and said, "I'm going through a lonely time in my life right now."

What are the odds that i would visit mr. g and read exactly the remedy i need? I'm sending her this poem- it may have every name of humanity upon it, but it whispers her name in my ear.

Thank you.

The hand of G*d- pure and simple.

Flying Cat said...

You know I love your words...I'm going to post this on another of my blogs. I've already got you linked on it but this is especially nice.

Thank you...oh and Happy Spring (it's just around the corner!)

L

Anonymous said...

Know that what you are looking for
Is another part of your self,
Carved off,
Risen up,
Left as a husk


Love, love, love this stanza.

Karen -
Where is your friend stationed? We have close ties at many AF Bases. Maybe they can offer support?

Anonymous said...

These are my favorites:

As you make your way back,
You will see your earthly loneliness
As a little thing --
A mood, a memento ...

This troubled nap,
This brief war
We call life ...

Anonymous said...

!!!Hey Ali!!! Glad to see you've beaten back the bugs(lol). She's stationed in Delaware- i'm not much more informed than that. She called me last night and sounds much better- i think it's just that she has to learn how to deal w/and fix things in her life and a lot of it is old stuff. The Air Force sounds wonderful about healing old wounds and helping gain knowledge to deal.

Email me if you want and i'll mail her contacts. She's really young, but also, viewing her family and how it functions from a distance kinda hurts her, too. No family is perfect, but no one likes to admit it.

She's gotten 6 Officer's coins so far, which i gather is a really big deal. Next time she comes home i'll get to see them. Oh, and she's about 5'3"- very tiny. I think the dudes are quite taken w/her :0).