Shine

25. Week of September 19 

Centered now in who I am

From my center I can shine

Shining the light of my spirit

Into the dark of space and time

Nature now prepares to sleep

And dream away the winter night

Awake, I stride into the darkness

Aloft my lantern, shining bright.

I have two goals for my students: Cognitive Endurance, and Existential Clarity. I didn’t make those up, but I think that they are so important, and two qualities that are becoming increasingly rare.

Last week’s verse focused on the former - this week’s verse on the latter. When we know who we are, when we can settle in there and move outward from that place of authenticity, we become a unique force in the world. We can be a light in the darkness for others, and for ourselves.

After I wrote this week’s poem, I read this passage in Susanna Clark’s Piranesi:

This statue shows a figure walking forward, holding a lantern. It is hard to determine with any certainty the gender of the figure; it is androgynous in apprearance. From the way she(or he) holds up the lantern and peers at whatever is ahead, one gets the sense of a huge darkness surrounding her; above all I get the sense that she is alone, perhaps by choice or perhaps because no one else was courageous enough to follow her into the darkness.

The fall equinox is this week, the sunset of the year. We are all walking togther into the darkness, alone. Winter’s adventurous descent lies before us. The shining of your authentic self lights your way.