I am writing this on a Tuesday evening, just after returning from seeing Sweet Honey In The Rock at the Musical Instrument Museum. As they broke into Ella’s song, which we have sung at UUCP, tears started running down my cheek. Written about the Civil Rights activist Ella Baker, the words are:
- We who believe in freedom cannot rest;
- We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes
I swear it has been 2 months since the election, not just 7 days, and I am still mad, sad, disappointed, fearful and motivated to act. And, clearly, I’m not over it yet.
Between the letter I wrote last Wednesday, the vigils on both Tuesday and Wednesday and the service on Sunday, I’ve said a lot of words about how I am feeling–and how it seems that many of us are feeling. Yet, I still don’t feel like I have the words, I think words are not adequate for the multitude of emotions that this moment elicits.
I will repeat that you should feel what you feel for as long as you feel it. Don’t bypass it as grief is a necessary step in the resistance that is to come. We are already seeing terrifying signs of what is to come, just as they threatened.
Since I am still trying to find the words, here are some excellent words by UU poet, Jan Richardson:
For a New Beginning
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
John O’Donohue
Take care of your precious hearts and know you are not alone.