Revelation Must Be Terrible
Revelation must be terrible with no time left to say goodbye.
Imagine that moment staring at the still waters with only the brief tremor
of your body to say you are leaving everything and everyone you know behind.
Being far from home is hard, but you know, at least we are exiled together. When you open your eyes to the world
you are on your own for the first time. No one is even interested in saving you now
and the world steps in to test the calm fluidity of your body from moment to moment
as if it believed you could join its vibrant dance of fire and calmness and final stillness.
As if you were meant to be exactly where you are, as if like the dark branch of a desert river
you could flow on without a speck of guilt and everything everywhere would still be just as it should be.
As if your place in the world mattered and the world could neither speak nor hear the fullness of
its own bitter and beautiful cry without the deep well of your body resonating in the echo.
Knowing that it takes only that one, terrible word to make the circle complete,
revelation must be terrible knowing you can never hide your voice again.
— David Whyte from Fire in the Earth ©1992 Many Rivers Press
