David Whyte

a meditation on the eve of Thanksgiving as we all gather together...

THE ROAD TO FORGIVENESS

.. after the pilgrim lanes,
and the ruined chapel,
the gull cries and the sea-hush 
at the back of the island,
it was the way, standing still
or looking out
or walking, or even talking
with others in the evening bar,
holding your drink
or laughing with the rest,
that you realized part of you
had already dropped to its knees,
to pray, to sing, to look,
to fall in love with everything
and everyone again,
that someone from far inside you
had walked out into the sea light
and the great embracing quiet
to raise its hands
and forgive
everyone in your short life
you thought you hadn’t,
and that all along
you had been singing
your quiet way
through the rosary of silence
that held their names….

...

Excerpted from LEAVING THE ISLAND :
From
THE SEA IN YOU:
Twenty Poems of Requited and Unrequited Love’
© David Whyte and Many Rivers Press