Writing Over the Threshold: David Whyte Wednesday

SELF PORTRAIT

by David Whyte from Fire in the Earth (Many Rivers Press)

It doesn't interest me if there is one God
Or many gods.
I want to know if you belong -- or feel abandoned;
If you know despair
Or can see it in others.
I want to know
If you are prepared to live in the world
With its harsh need to change you;
If you can look back with firm eyes
Saying "this is where I stand."
I want to know if you know how to melt
Into that fierce heat of living
Falling toward the center of your longing.
I want to know if you are willing
To live day by day
With the consequence of love
And the bitter unwanted passion
Of your sure defeat.
I have been told
In that fierce embrace
Even the gods
Speak of God.

It's been far too long since the last David Whyte Wednesday. I had this poem typed up and ready to go for Lent but never used it. And while I referred to it in a previous post about plagiarism versus inspiration, I didn't really comment on the content of the poem itself.

For some reason this poem has always reminded me of the art of René Magritte. Perhaps it's the moving beyond the surface to the essence of being, the hidden and the visible, the suggestion of looking at and being looked at and what that reveals and conceals and how that feels.

“Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see. There is an interest in that which is hidden and which the visible does not show us. This interest can take the form of a quite intense feeling, a sort of conflict, one might say, between the visible that is hidden and the visible that is present.” ― René Magritte

Weighty things to ponder for a Wednesday so I'll leave you with another virtual art gallery, this time a Magritte show, to enjoy as you think about your self-portrait . . .