David Whyte: on living a courageous life

Here’s a taste of David Whyte’s poetry, after my oblique reference in yesterday’s post:

Sweet Darkness

When your eyes are tired
the world is tired also.

When your vision has gone
no part of the world can find you.

It’s time to go into the dark
where the night has eyes
to recognize its own.

There you can be sure
you are not beyond love.

The dark will be your home
tonight.

The night will give you a horizon
further than you can see.

You must learn one thing:
the world was made to be free in.

Give up all the other worlds
except the one to which you belong.

Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn

that anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive

is too small for you.

….

I took the photo up top about 30 minutes after the one you see below. The road looks empty, but every minute or two a hunter would idle by, usually in a pick-up, eyes peeled and rifle at the ready, hoping to get lucky with a big late-season buck.