So many apparent and recognizable forms of light–afternoon sun filtering through slender birches in a Santa Sabina courtyard, the various tones of heart beaming from retreatants, the clear and steady radiance streaming in unending kindness from our friend and guide. The nourishment shining in the carefully prepared meals; the intimacy with friends staying with us; our dog’s warm welcome when we returned home–all modulations of the same infinite and eternal light.

But can we recognize the following forms as well? A friend leaves tonight for her sister-in-law’s memorial, my son confronts another day flavored with chronic pain, a woman left to spend time with a dog who will be euthanized this afternoon. The impulse is to resist, to label these as difficult, or painful. We might want to deny, or turn away. Yet these, too, are an outflow of the same light of awareness.

© Amrita Skye Blaine, 2013
photo: from Panhala Poetry