Artwork by Levi Slaver
How to Pack
When there is no room left for love,
When you have stuffed your bags so full
That the zipper moans as you close it
And the seams threaten to burst,
When the weight of obligation presses against
Your chest and the steady beat of
Shoulds and have-tos pulses in your head,
Drop all of those things you believe To be essential and real.
Let them all go and feel
The breath in your lungs,
The sun on your face,
This gentle embrace.
When there is no room for love, imagine
That love can squeeze through the narrowest of cracks,
Lay roots through a mountain of granite,
Spread across a field of doubt and insecurity,
Leaving a trail of shimmer-glazed popcorn
That will lead you back
To who you are.
When there is no room left for love, remember
That love occupies no space,
Requires no time,
Inhabits no place.
I have often imagined love as sort of energetic force field that can expand to fill any container. I imagine that I (and anyone) can feel love in my heart and radiate it out to others like a billowing blanket, soft as cashmere, fluid as silk.
One evening, I was walking just before sunset. I had been commiserating with a friend who was struggling. When we got off the phone, I wished that he could feel a sense of peace, if only for a moment. A few minutes later, I looked up at the sky and saw a cloud that looked like an angel with broad billowing wings. It seemed to be reaching out to offer me a hug. " I thought to myself, “That’s Phillip’s angel” so I took a picture of the angel-cloud and texted it to him.
A storm began to form and as I approached home at the end of my walk, the last bit of sunlight hit the clouds in a way that made them reflect light as a sort of deconstructed rainbow. It reminded me that there are so many different facets of love, that even in the stormiest of times, there is still so much beauty and light. And that, just like a dessert at the end of a meal, there is always room for love.
Lullaby is an invitation for you to feel love in your heart and perhaps imagine yourself spreading out a blanket of love to those in your life.
Upcoming Timeouts:
Cove Bells - A Winter Solstice Tradition
Wednesday, December 18, 6:30-8pm
Seton Cove, 3708 Crawford Street, Austin 78731
Learn more and register here.
Frontera Fest Long Fringe Theater Festival
January 2020
Ground Floor Theatre, Austin, TX
Show dates and times to follow.
Brainstorms Audiobook
December 2019
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