You Have Come to Run and Dance

At the Expo in Boston, they were giving away these posters for the marathon. I did not even look at it carefully until I got home and realized that my name was written on this poster along with all the other runners who had qualified and who were entered in the race for the 2013 marathon.  In light of all that happened, I decided it was worth framing, and Taylor wanted it in his room.  When I showed it to Anna and Taylor last night before bed, I got a bit teary eyed and was thankful for a moment for a group hug as this is such a profound reminder to me that today is a gift not to be taken for granted.

Below is a poem that I ran across this morning. Beautiful indeed... 

You Have Come To Run and Dance

You have come to this planet
to run and dance
and to cheer,
and you have done so.
And, Beloved, you
with the wind in you
and the fire in you,
with the Beloved in you,
when the bombs
of someone else’s
anger and despair
exploded you
and for a moment
you lay in the street,
unable,
and others carried you —
(shattered open,
you finally know
it is forever, now,
for we have done
so much more than cheer,
holding our blood
in each other’s hands) —
that was not an end
but an awakening:
the anger and despair
are not yours.
You have come
to run and dance.
The wind blows
through your broken ruins
and they get up, borne,
and they will get up,
and they will dance,
and you will go on running,
running
on your mangled legs,
dancing
on your stumps and devices,
running to the infinite finish,
wildly dancing,
elegantly, sorrowfully,
beautifully dancing,
celebrating
every perfect one who runs by
on their wounded feet,
all of us carrying each other
across our many ribboned
finish lines,
and all of us,
even the despairing,
will finish.

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

http://unfoldinglight.net/