The news is bad here in Washington DC — from the traumatizing executive order two days ago to the plane crash and pretty much everything in between.
Like me, you might be feeling the sadness and stress of the day.
And so, I’m sharing about my walk along the Potomac and a poem from this morning. I hope you’ll take a few minutes and listen.
I hope it helps.
You have power. Don’t give up. Love relentlessly.
Love,
Diana
PS: I mixed up Rosemerry Trommer with another poet friend when I id’ed her as Native American! She’s not. My mistake. I hope she considers it an honor.
BECAUSE
by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
So I can’t save the world—
can’t save even myself,
can’t wrap my arms around
every frightened child, can’t
foster peace among nations,
can’t bring love to all who
feel unlovable.
So I practice opening my heart
right here in this room and being gentle
with my insufficiency. I practice
walking down the street heart first.
And if it is insufficient to share love,
I will practice loving anyway.
I want to converse about truth,
about trust. I want to invite compassion
into every interaction.
One willing heart can’t stop a war.
One willing heart can’t feed all the hungry.
And sometimes, daunted by a task too big,
I tell myself what’s the use of trying?
But today, the invitation is clear:
to be ridiculously courageous in love.
To open the heart like a lilac in May,
knowing freeze is possible
and opening anyway.
To take love seriously.
To give love wildly.
To race up to the world
as if I were a puppy,
adoring and unjaded,
stumbling on my own exuberance.
To feel the shock of indifference,
of anger, of cruelty, of fear,
and stay open. To love as if it matters,
as if the world depends on it.
from The Unfolding (Wildhouse Publishing, 2024)
Let this darkness be a bell tower and you the bell.
As you ring, what batters you becomes your strength.
—Rainer Maria Rilke
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