Self Portrait by David Whyte

Self Portrait
by David Whyte

It doesn’t interest me if there is one God
Or many gods.
I want to know if you belong — or feel abandoned;
If you know despair
Or can see it in others.
I want to know
If you are prepared to live in the world
With its harsh need to change you;
If you can look back with firm eyes
Saying “this is where I stand.”
I want to know if you know how to melt
Into that fierce heat of living
Falling toward the center of your longing.
I want to know if you are willing
To live day by day
With the consequence of love
And the bitter unwanted passion
Of your sure defeat.
I have been told
In that fierce embrace
Even the gods
Speak of God.

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David, my ex-husband, is among many things an extraordinary poet. I still love these lines about being willing to live “with the consequence of love…And the bitter unwanted passion of your sure defeat.” I think the truthiness of it, the ways we are subject to loss by virtue of being born and being human, gives us something ephemeral and beautiful to grapple with.