The Root of the Root

I Carry Your Heart With Me

By Edward Estlin Cummings

 

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart)

i am never without it (anywhere i go you go,my dear; 

and whatever is done by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear no fate (for you are my fate,my sweet)

i want no world (for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant 

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows 

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud 

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;

which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart) 

...This poem showed up in my life last night.  I was watching "In Her Shoes"...an old favorite, but this time something was different.  I saw something new...my ears heard something I had missed.  I don't even remember this poem from the handful of times that I've watched this movie, but this time it meant something to me. 

I began thinking about my kids...my husband...my mother...my sisters...my fathers..my grandma...all of us here in this pocket of time together.  Something exists in us that is deeper than our etched out personalities & personal beliefs...something beyond society, family ties, commonalities.  Something that keeps us all carrying humanity in our hearts...if but only for a brief second here and there.  

This thing is the root of the root.  It is higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide...it is beyond science and before explanation.  This thing that binds us is wondrous & can feel elusive at times.  It has many names, but we all recognize it.  It is this energy of life that keeps us tied together to a harmony and to all things so that we can feel our role in it all. 

I call this thing wisdom, but that doesn't matter, what matters is that we all know it and have it...no matter how well-used or dusty it may be.  This thing helps us know things that we do not previously know without studying or doing anything at all.  How important it is for all of us to know that each of us has this...AND what a beautiful world we could create if we all began to look for it in ourselves and within others.  Acts of courage, every-day miracles, things that move the soul...they are all around us and all within us.  If you become aware of your connection to the energy that connects us all, unlimited potential is yours in an instant. 

This makes me think of a friend of mine, who is now going through a painful separation...as if some of them are not painful.  The thing that has been so luminous and inspiring for me is that she is fully in the zone.  I hardly recognize her from a week ago.  She had been in a fog and in contemplation...that's what it looked like from outside, but really she had been waiting for that moment when her wisdom showed up in full force.  

She is now moving through the separation with clarity and courage.  There is room in her mind for feelings of peace and direction.  She is not lost in her personal thinking, but is instead guided by what can be only be described as... the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life. 

May you be as well.