“As the stores close, a winter light
opens air to iris blue,
glint of frost through the smoke
grains of mica, salt of the sidewalk.
As the buildings close, released autonomous
feet pattern the streets
in hurry and stroll; balloon heads
drift and dive above them; the bodies
aren’t really there.
As the lights brighten, as the sky darkens,
a woman with crooked heels says to another woman
while they step along at a fair pace,
“You know, I’m telling you, what I love best
is life. I love life! Even if I ever get
to be old and wheezy—or limp! You know?
Limping along?—I’d still … ” Out of hearing.
To the multiple disordered tones
of gears changing, a dance
to the compass points, out, four-way river.
Prospect of sky
wedged into avenues, left at the ends of streets,
west sky, east sky: more life tonight! A range
of open time at winter’s outskirts.

February Evening in New York by Denise Levertov (1923 – 1997)

“Sooner or later we all discover that the important moments in life are not the advertised ones, not the birthdays, the graduations, the weddings, not the goals achieved. The real milestones are less prepossessing. They come to the door of memory unannounced, stray dogs that amble in, sniff around a bit and simply never leave. Our lives are measured by these.”

Susan B. Anthony (1920 – 1906), feminist and social reformer, born on this day, quoted in Fragments of Holiness for Daily Reflection

St Valentine’s Day

“A life without love is a waste. ‘Should I look for spiritual love, or material, or physical love?’, don’t ask yourself this question. Discrimination leads to discrimination. Love doesn’t need any name, category or definition. Love is a world itself. Either you are in, at the centre, or you are out, yearning.”

Shams Tabrizi (1185 – 1248)

“You ask why I make my home in the mountain forest,
and I smile, and am silent,
and even my soul remains quiet:
it lives in the other world
which no one owns.
The peach trees blossom.
The water flows.”

Li Po (701 – 762)

“Among the scenes which are deeply impressed on my mind, none exceed in sublimity the primeval [tropical] forests… temples filled with the varied productions of the God of Nature. No one can stand in these solitudes unmoved, and not feel that there is more in man than the mere breath of his body.”

Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882), born on this day

“As I walked out of the door towards the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.”

Nelson Mandela (1918 – 2013), released from prison on this day in 1990 after 27 years in gaol

“The space within us reaches out, translates each thing.
For the essence of a tree to be real for you,
cast inner space around it, out of the space
that exists in you. Encircle it with restraint.
It has no borders. Only in the realm
of your renouncing can it, as tree, be known.”

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 – 1926)

“Nature and Grace are in harmony with each other. For Grace is God and Nature is God. Neither Nature nor Grace works without the other. They may never be separated… That Goodness that is Nature is God. God is the Ground, the substance, the same that is Naturehood. God is the true Father and Mother of Nature.”

Julian of Norwich (c. 1343 – 1416), quoted in Christian Mystics by Matthew Fox

“The body is God,
the body is the temple,
the body is the worshipper,
the body is the sacred shrine.
The body is the incense,
the lamp, the sacred offerings;
it is the body I worship
with broken petals.

After searching
all the world,
it was in the body
I found all the treasure
of the world.
Nothing is born,
nothing dies –
such is Ram’s light.

What is contained
in the universe
is also contained
in the body:
whatever you seek,
you shall find.
Pipa says, He is Primal Matter;
the true guru will show this.”

Raga Dhanashri by Pipa, 15th century India, translated by Nirmal Dass

“If you have ever tried to give strong-tasting medicine to an animal of child, you have encountered (probably with some frustration) the full extent of unwillingness. The same frustration sometimes arises when we try to persuade someone to our way of seeing something; no matter how many times we explain our perspective, the listener’s understanding does not come to the place of realization. It is just not within range of his will.

In our lives we must do many things contrary to our consent: out of duty, expediency, or consideration for others. Our ability to show willingness is often a measure of our maturity, a skill honed by circumstance, upbringing, and experience. But these very factors often have the reverse effect; that is, they detach us from our own will.

When we do spend time trying to define our will, it is often a shock to find how much of what we think of as our own opinion, our full consent, our true will is formed by the opinions, wishes, and desires of others. Sorting the grit from the grain takes a lot of perseverance.

Will without maturity is of no service to us; we must know when we can compromise it and when we should defend it.”

From The Celtic Spirit: Daily Meditations for the Turning Year by Caitlin Matthews