YOUer than you

To honor Mahala and her new decade, I steal the staggeringly beautiful words of David Whyte.

Detail of Unicorn Hunt from Geinhausen, Germany

Altar Antependium "Marienteppich" [late 15th century]

SEEING YOU

I want you 

to see

yourself

the way

I sometimes 

see you.

I want you

to see 

yourself

with the 

self-same

eyes

that have me 

shy

of telling you

what I see.

I want you

to come across

your self

and see

yourself,

the way I did

that first 

morning,

as a beautiful

incredibly 

kind 

and inviting

stranger.

I want you

to knock

gently on

your 

own door

and stand there 

astonished

as I do

unable

to speak

to the one

who has come

out to meet you.

Like Rilke’s 

visiting

angel

of the 

Annunciation

who forgot 

his message

to Mary,

and could only

fall back

to singing 

her praises,

stuttering and

overwhelmed

as he was,

by the untroubled 

beauty 

of her soul.

…

SEEING YOU from THE BELL AND THE BLACKBIRD

Poetry by David Whyte - APRIL 2018 © David Whyte and Many Rivers Press