Poetry I Carry Also Carries Me

What does this image say to you?

It is said that the language of the soul speaks in images. I don't know who said this but I do know that it is true, from my experience. Dreams, art, music, and poems speak directly to my heart and soul in profound ways through their use of imagery that is beyond words, even beyond the words they may contain. I am deeply nourished by dreams, art, music, and poems, whether they come from my own heart or from someone else's heart. Our hearts are connected as One so it makes sense to me that whatever form of beauty originates from another's heart is bound to carry a Universal resonance. What I carry in my heart has the power to carry me. This beautiful truth is reflected in all of us. 

I have come to realize that when I feel like I'm drowning in pain of all kinds, whether it be sadness, grief, depression, or anxiety, I intuitively turn to my or others' dreams, art, music and poetry to help lift my spirit and carry me to a better place within myself. The power inherent in these soulful things never fail me. In particular, there is one very special poem present in my awareness that I continually return to for nourishment, like a well I can gather fresh, clean water from, and that poem is titled, "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran. The image above, where I asked what it says to you, is actually one of Kahlil's drawings. He was not just a poet, but an artist and dreamer as well. I first became aware of Kahlil Gibran and his beautiful poem in 2011 while reading the book "Change We Must: My Spiritual Journey" by Nana Veary. 

Nana and her wisdom have had a meteoric impact in my life; especially, her wisdom of the spirituality of practicing "Aloha," seeing the Divine Breath of Life present in all people and her perspective on the power of forgiveness. My unforgiveness toward myself and others is one of my major sources of pain. In her book, Nana says, "There is only one Self, the eternal I Am. If you condemn someone or something, you condemn yourself, your own Being. If you forgive, you give to yourself." Then she goes on to say, "Forgiving means to set everyone and everything fully free, to release them totally within your own being, realizing that in Being you are not dependent on anyone or anything, and they are not dependent on you. ...Free yourself in consciousness. You alone bind yourself, and you alone can free yourself. This truth is expressed in Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet:

Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone.
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow."

Nana's wisdom and this part of Kahlil's poem have gifted me a clearer image of what forgiveness truly means and an image of a love that I strive to embody and radiate in the world. I must also mention, for reasons of synchronicity, that in their own special way, this poem and Nana's wisdom have also helped me to better understand the love present within and between the characters of Rose and Jack in the movie Titanic and the symbolic message that I feel is behind Rose throwing her Heart of the Ocean necklace into the sea at the end. Through the wisdom of Nana Veary and The Prophet, I now see that Rose freed herself in the ocean of consciousness and that the way she loved Jack helped her to keep her promise to him, to never give up despite her profound loss of him, for Rose's heart was contained in the hand of Life. This is what I like to see, anyway. I bring up these musings about Titanic, not just because I totally love that movie, but also because there is an awesome synchronicity in connection with my love for Titanic and The Prophet that makes for a very interesting story...

On the night of November 23, 2013 I was staying the night at my Grandma Dorie's house to help comfort her and keep her company since my Grandpa Ralph had temporarily moved to the Dow Rummel Village. My Grandma had already gone to bed so I was in the living room watching television and surfing the internet on my phone. For whatever reason, I felt a strong desire to repeatedly watch certain scenes from Titanic on Youtube this night. I recall mostly watching scenes of Rose "flying" at the front of the ship with Jack and the scene with Jack and Rose in the sea which is titled, "The Promise." As I was watching those scenes I, like usual, was brought to tears and felt immense power in my heart. This movie, in general, totally speaks to my soul, that's all I know. So there I was watching these Titanic scenes on Youtube and it dawned on me that the love I was seeing in these scenes is the love I see in the poem The Prophet. It was a major realization for me. Then, I realized my phone battery was about to die so I got up to plug my phone in to a wall charger located near my Grandma's library shelves. After I plugged my phone in to charge, I had planned to look through her books to see if there was a poem book I'd like to read. My Grandma Dorie shares with me a deep love for poetry so she has many poem books. Well, just as I was about to look through her books, a loud commercial popped onto the TV which was a trailer for some horror movie. I didn't want the sounds of horror to disrupt my Titanic/ Prophet love vibes so I quickly plugged my ears with my fingers and began heading toward the kitchen. Then, something so amazing occurred which I am still in awe about because it felt dream-like. There I was plugging my ears, walking away from my Grandma's library shelves, when I quickly came upon a stool with none other than the poem book The Prophet sitting atop it. Thankfully, I captured the exact vision of what I saw with my phone's camera. The image itself is a gift in my eyes!!!

I almost couldn't believe what I was seeing. My jaw hung as I was still plugging my ears trying to block the sounds of the horror movie trailer in the background. Pretty funny image of myself!! It's just so cool how this all unfolded though. It's amazing that here I had been watching scenes from Titanic, while thinking about The Prophet, and then seconds later I discover that my Grandma Dorie owns this book. I had no idea she owned this poem or that this poem was long enough to be in book form. Seeing it was a super surprise of synchronicity at its finest. Gifts galore! My heart wanted to explode with joy! It's hard to put into words all that I felt. When I look at the image again all of these feelings rise up in me once more and I am filled with gratitude for what life, Spirit, and synchronicity have gifted me. There is even more beauty present in this story, but I think I have shared enough for now.

To be continued...