I have been posting a poem almost every Sunday for six years. A lot has happened in this country, in the world, during this time, much of it very distressing.

What has happened in the past couple of weeks, two major mass shootings- I am without words adequate for the immensity of our communal grief. Worse, this seems to be who we are now- a country willing to put up with so much senseless violence, too deadlocked in hatred for each other to compromise, to make positive change. This hatred is grief, turned hard. And it will destroy all of us.

I believe the only true answer lies at the soul level and that begins with me. It means going deep inside to that place of Love and Light and letting my actions come from there. I fail at this constantly because my ego demands that I am right and “they” are wrong, which makes me unable to see another person’s humanity. But in these distressing times, I want to commit to trying again and again until I get it right.

Because even now, when it doesn’t seem like we could be more divided, there is hope because there is still Love and Light that lives in the depths of every soul, if only we can get there.

I don’t have the words, but here is a beautiful poem by John O’Donohue. I share it to honor the latest victims of our communal hate. May they live forever now in Love and Light.

On The Death Of The Beloved –
By John O’Donohue

Though we need to weep your loss,

You dwell in that safe place in our hearts,

Where no storm or night or pain can reach you.


Your love was like the dawn

Brightening over our lives

Awakening beneath the dark

A further adventure of colour.



The sound of your voice

Found for us

A new music

That brightened everything.



Whatever you enfolded in your gaze

Quickened in the joy of its being;

You placed smiles like flowers

On the altar of the heart.

Your mind always sparkled

With wonder at things.



Though your days here were brief,

Your spirit was live, awake, complete.



We look towards each other no longer

From the old distance of our names;

Now you dwell inside the rhythm of breath,

As close to us as we are to ourselves.



Though we cannot see you with outward eyes,

We know our soul’s gaze is upon your face,

Smiling back at us from within everything

To which we bring our best refinement.



Let us not look for you only in memory,

Where we would grow lonely without you.

You would want us to find you in presence,

Beside us when beauty brightens,

When kindness glows

And music echoes eternal tones.



When orchids brighten the earth,

Darkest winter has turned to spring;

May this dark grief flower with hope

In every heart that loves you.



May you continue to inspire us:



To enter each day with a generous heart.

To serve the call of courage and love

Until we see your beautiful face again

In that land where there is no more separation,

Where all tears will be wiped from our mind,

And where we will never lose you again. 


Photo by Mike Smith