A Poem: Your Embrace

Today you put your arm around me
and I heard you say,

‘it is here, has been here, and here will remain.

When you close your eyes
and become still,
you hear the birdsong you did not hear before.

When you lie afloat on the ocean’s depths,
you cannot stay buoyant
without allowing your body to rest.

So it is with my embrace,
still yourself in quietness
and you will feel its weight.

Centre yourself in my love
and it will become
the grace that surrounds.

I am here, always without and within.
As a warming summer sun,
though winter draws its curtain.

As the life that surges,
though weakness and dependence,
bring you to surrender.

As the light that shines in the dark
though the dark might appear
to have increased in strength.

Its depth is needed to highlight
the lengthening shadows,
illuminating the light.

Contrast is our friend.
Without which we wouldn’t see
a sun cresting upon the horizon.

And no-one would be drawn to me,
without a need they need met.
Without the pull of gravity arresting their heart.

Yes, today I put my arm around you,
and I hear you say,

“I feel its weight,
although it has been here all along
today I am aware of it.”’
Ana Lisa de Jong
December 2017

Image:  Julia Morozova