The Cold Gray Light of Morning
A short reflection
The sky is gray-blue and the lake is blue-gray and I am happy to be alive here and writing to you.
I hold it with the sadness.
My friend Patrick, an ICU nurse, was diagnosed with ALS and is experiencing more effects every week, it seems. He is only 50, and a devoted single father to three children. The eldest has set up a GoFundMe, and I’d be honored if you felt moved to help.
Every day brings news of war, and I think of the children of Gaza – 14,500 murdered thus far as per Doctors Without Borders – and I mourn for them. INARA is a wonderful organization doing its best to help children of war in Gaza, Ukraine, and beyond.
Individually, we cannot do much, but we can each do something helpful. I tell myself that every day, more or less.
We are lucky, aren’t we, you and I and anyone else with access to wifi, clean water, breathable air, warm shelter, suitable clothing, and a supply of food uninterrupted by vicious, genocidal destruction.
This does not mean we are well, or healthy, or happy all or most of the time. This does not mean our private pain and suffering does not deserve care and love. This does not mean something so mundane as one’s morning routine does not deserve a bit of readjustment now and then. This does not mean we don’t deserve to laugh about stupid silly shit, or cry over it.
I received this poem today via the First Light Meditation newsletter.
I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance;
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.
Dawna Markova, b. 1942
The water reflects the sky as I reflect you, and you reflect those around you. May you be safe and well today.
"Individually, we cannot do much, but we can each do something helpful." Thank you for that reminder. Thank you.
This is lovely. Thank you. 💙