Perhaps this poem relates to relative truth with a bit of an onward and upwards feel to it, but on first reading over a decade ago it gave me sense of fresh air within the poignancy of the truth of impermanence….

Despite being posted so long ago it has always been in the top posts…perhaps because of the title…perhaps because of being …simply in the top posts!!!

I have changed much and have viewed it differently through time
Maybe it will resonate helpfully with you…in one way or another…
and while you are here I invite you to also visit Recent posts/ Wendy’s writing and Audio/Video in the header to see where the dharma can take us…in time

After a while you learn the subtle difference

Between holding a hand and chaining a soul*,

And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning

And company doesn’t mean security.

And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts

And presents aren’t promises,

And you begin to accept your defeats

With your head up and your eyes open

With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child,

And you learn to build all your roads on today

Because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans

And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.

After a while you learn…

That even sunshine burns if you get too much.

So you plant your garden and decorate your own soul,*

Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.

And you learn that you really can endure…

That you really are strong

And you really do have worth…

And you learn and learn…

With every good-bye you learn.”

*From a dharma perspective ‘soul’ as an essential continuing Some-‘thing’ is not a valid proposition…but you’ll get what’s meant in the first reference …to the attempt to chain and control, to  ‘own another’ as if they were a ‘thing’, an object
…. as the words of William Blake are telling:

‘He who binds himself a joy
doth the winged thing destroy
He who kisses it as it flies
wins for himself an eternity sunrise’

The second reference to soul could be seen as inviting us to step up from  decorating our own ego-garden… and in a dharma context could meaningfully refer to nurturing the ‘new shoot’, the emergent realisation of the latent potential our buddha-nature…

You can practise and practise,  asking the question ….who is it that learns?…until you know that
response as manifestations shows,
ceaselessly –  ‘goodbye’,  ‘hello’.

Or, from a more prosaic perspective, ‘goodbye’ and ‘hello’ are interdependent in impermanence, like the legs of a pair of pyjama bottoms worn by the ’empty’ moment.

wendy