Our Return to Home.

I’m inspired this morning by the words of Mary Oliver, from “On Winter’s Margin”. It is, by far, one of my favorite passages.

On Winter’s Margin

On winter’s margin, see the small birds now
With half-forged memories come flocking home
To gardens famous for their charity.
The green globe’s broken; vines like tangled veins
Hang at the entrance to the silent wood.

With half a loaf, I am the prince of crumbs;
By snow’s down, the birds amassed will sing
Like children for their sire to walk abroad!
But what I love, is the gray stubborn hawk
Who floats alone beyond the frozen vines;
And what I dream of are the patient deer
Who stand on legs like reeds and drink that wind; –

They are what saves the world: who choose to grow
Thin to a starting point beyond this squalor.”

As we celebrate this Winter Solstice, I am reminded of its lesson to all. That is, even on the coldest of days – we are always ‘returning’ to the sun.

All around the world we celebrate our ‘return’. Throughout each culture, each spiritual tradition – we pay homage to this transition. It is a marking of the day, but more so, a reinforcement of an inherent belief – that even in these depths of winter, there will be a return to abundance.

Author Albert Camus once spoke of an invincible summer within us all. “And that makes me happy,” he wrote. “For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”

It is precisely this change which bears an unshakeable resilience.

“They are what saves the world: who choose to grow.”

You see, even within these crumbs of loaf, there still exists an irrepressible hope.

About

Tara Lemieux is a mindful wanderer, and faithful stargazer. Although she often appears to be listening with great care, rest assured she is most certainly‘forever lost in thought. She is an ardent explorer and lover of finding things previously undiscovered or at the very least mostly not-uncovered.

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