on this day of love, my thoughts are on you, sweet girl, and all that stands before you in what you wrote about here. God is here, and so are we. but how scary, still, to know that only we can walk the path that stands before us. but even still, you are not alone.

i found this poem in an epitaph to a book kirk gave to me tonight. the book is called anam cara, which is irish gaelic for "soul friend," which is what you are to me. the book and poem are written by the late john o'donohue, an irish poet and philosopher who writes much on beauty and the numinous and spirituality. (incidentally, he just passed away this past january 3rd, God rest his soul.)

this poem is my prayer for you this day, filled with all my love.

beannacht

on the day when
the weight deadens
on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you.

and when your eyes
freeze behind
the gray window
and the ghost of loss
gets in to you,
may a flock of colors,
indigo, red, green
and azure blue
come to awaken in you
a meadow of delight.

when the canvas frays
in the curach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you,
may there come across the waters
a path of yellow moonlight
to bring you safely home.

may the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.

and so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.

i love you, sweet girl. happy valentine's day.