10.01.2007

People of the Love

As the day fades, I contemplate
the feeling of together I have found here.
No longer struggling to walk alone.
Maybe your hand will help me stand again,
maybe my shoulder will dry your eyes.
A friend I found, an arm to lean on
a heart of understanding and encouragement.
Once I felt as a stranger in a land which was not my home
a place where I followed strange rules meant to exclude.
Then one day I looked out a window, set foot out a door, mesmerized.
I saw another world existing outside the walls,
out among the people.
At first I was alone, then one stepped up, and two and more...
Now we stand side by side to face this future,
seeking a Place of Love long lost in history,
taking steps to move forward and beyond, embracing the other.
Some days that which we left behind will be hard to bear,
other days we will rejoice.
There is a Love here among us
in the winds that blow and embers that glow
and where the Spirit resides,
in us, rather than in a rulebook...
What I lost was so great, and yet
because I lost a place
I found my people.

18 comments:

Bar L. said...

Erin, this is beautiful. I believe it captures what many of us feel. Love YOU!

Erin said...

Thanks so much Barbara! Likewise!

Keren said...

Thanks for this Erin - a wonderful vision.

Ive had a similar feeling... of being an outsider then one day realizing the thing I thought I was on the outside of is already inside me and has always been there, and now my purpose/desire is to take it outside again. And when I do, I find others there waiting for me to hold my hand. Lovers. Lovers of the first order.

Like you said, People of the Love.

Peace
Keren

Lyn said...

Beautiful Erin, very beautiful.

Marilyn Ruth said...

Erin,

Wow.

Yes yes yes yes yes.

Thank you for your words and for your love.

I am going to email them to myself so I can think about them during the day. (Blogs are blocked by our school´s internet filter)

Beautiful writing. :)

Marilyn

Erin said...

Keren - Lovers we are. I hate that the idea of being a "lover" has been hijacked to the point that when we say it we think of it in terms of physical intimacy.

We can reclaim it for this definition: "a person who loves, esp. a person who has or shows a warm and general affectionate regard for others"

Erin said...

Lyn - Thank you so much!

Erin said...

Marilyn Ruth - I'm so glad this was encouraging to you. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

This is wonderful Erin.

I really like, "At first I was alone, then one stepped up, and two and more..."

brilliant.

Anonymous said...

Wow! That says it! Very nicely written.
YAH

Erin said...

Thanks Rhonda...it's so true.

Erin said...

YAH -(for anyone who doesn't know, that's my husband's signature) - Thanks honey. Glad you liked it.

Marilyn Ruth said...

erin,

Thinking about this, I have felt alone too.

I am so thankful to all of you here. Every post and comment written is eating away at the spiritual loneliness, replacing it with love. ItÅ› nice.

thank you again erin for your words here

:)

Erin said...

Marilyn - It's so refreshing to find places where we are no longer alone...than you for being part of that.

Divorced Dad said...

erin, this was beautiful and stimulated my awareness of how connected i truly am to all things.

"We are sent into the world to live to the full everything that awakens within us."

Unknown said...

beautiful, thank you!

Erin said...

Thank you Jim.

Erin said...

Paul - You're welcome!