“Like thread through a needle”

Separation

Your absence has gone through me
Like thread through a needle.
Everything I do is stitched with its color. W.S. Merwin 1927-2019

From a giant of a poet spanning nine decades I delight in one of his shortest poems. We are not told much in the poem but we feel the sorrow and the joy in every syllable. We do not know whom the speaker is thinking about so the poem is wide open for our habitation. Now that you have read it it is easy to tuck it away in your memory and recite it to yourself when the need arises. Please take a moment to use the link https://merwinconservancy.org/place/ and if you take the time to watch the video please be sure to have the sound on. There is much to discover about Merwin. I will quote a few lines from his longtime editer who wrote “Merwin’s poems have illuminated their tumultuous times, global and domestic, and all the while he has, through his poetry, consistently discovered and created grace.”

Prayer:
Graceful God,
I delight in the grace you
have placed in others. Grace, that never
forgets to shines in the darkest corners. Grace,
that is present when goodness seems to have
left the room. Grace, that finds a way to
feed the hunrgy, clothe the naked, and shelter
those who are unhoused.
Graceful God,
I delight in the imagination of others, those who
never cease dreaming the impossible during the night
and working to make it reality during the day.
May your grace be a thread that runs through
us and stitches us together, in what we call humanity. Amen.