Now is a chance to release and relax.
Inhale deeply and release that breath.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Welcome to a hit of hope.
You never know where you might end up.
This came to me recently when someone took a picture of me as I stood against an abandoned building.
To my right,
The word PEAK,
P-E-A-K,
Had been spray-painted onto a brick wall.
If you've listened to me before,
You know it will come as no surprise that later I went to the Oxford English Dictionary to see what new meanings of the word PEAK I might discover.
That doesn't matter as much,
That experience with the OED,
But what really matters for what's coming next is this phrase that I came across.
But all that night,
Mine heart did roar and seek.
Have you ever had nights like that when all your heart did was to roar and seek?
I have.
Inhale.
Exhale.
For the rest of this meditation to make sense,
You need to know that phrase,
But all that night mine heart did roar and seek.
The phrase was written in Middle English,
Which basically means that the spelling was all beautiful and wonky.
And that lilting rhythm of the phrase reminded me of this amazing literature professor I had back in college.
This professor always wore starched white shirts and he vigorously brill creamed his hair.
This lively little man would bounce around the front of the room as he thrilled us,
Or at least me,
With the depths and intricacies of Shakespeare and Chaucer.
I was reminded of this professor because one of our assignments was to memorize in Middle English the opening lines to Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
And one of my favorite phrases in that opening is,
Then along en folk de gon en pilgrimages,
Or then long folks to go on pilgrimages.
Another assignment this professor gave us was to memorize a Shakespearean sonnet.
From what I've heard when this professor was diagnosed with brain cancer,
One of his nurses was an old student of his.
As this brilliant man sat in his chair,
As this woman administered his chemo,
She recited to him the sonnet she had memorized for his class.
For my first chemo infusion,
My nurse was an alum of the school where I teach,
And as I packed up to leave that day,
She brought me a red carnation in a blue plastic glove.
The gesture reminded me there was still beauty and kindness in the new and terrifying world that I had just entered.
None of us know what is coming.
Joy,
Pain,
Delight,
Suffering,
Chemo,
A Shakespearean sonnet,
Love,
Grief,
Nights where our hearts roar and seek,
Nights where we are awash in love and light.
Here we are,
All of us,
On this pilgrimage called life.
As we put one foot in front of another,
May we walk with as much grace and kindness,
As much love and care as we can muster.
May we lift one another up when we fall.
May we take the offered hand.
May we be the light that shines,
And if we can't,
May we breathe and wait for our hearts to quit roaring in pain.
May we breathe and wait for the new day to dawn.
Inhale,
Exhale.
Namaste.
