This poem was written six years ago in October 2011...
My daughter, Viveka and I had just completed our cross country American mother-daughter walkabout (see bio for details on the walk). We were attending a week-long seminar in Oak Park IL with Andrew Harvey on "Sacred Activism" when these words flowed out of me after a meditation....
My daughter, Viveka and I had just completed our cross country American mother-daughter walkabout (see bio for details on the walk). We were attending a week-long seminar in Oak Park IL with Andrew Harvey on "Sacred Activism" when these words flowed out of me after a meditation....
GRATITUDE
by Reverend Doris Davis
In the secret chamber of the
heart
some words arose that took
the form of prayer.
Around the space four
presences were gathered:
the one who always presides,
and the witness,
and the two -- the body and
the soul.
The soul addressed the body
and s/he said:
“Beloved one, you honor me
today,
leaving all burdens of the
past behind,
forgiving me and letting
yourself be forgiven.
Only gratitude is left in the
space between us.
Give me your hand, and let us
celebrate
what G-d has given us to know
of Love.”
 |
| 'Take my Hand' by E. Tastad |
Rev. Doris Davis, (R.G. Wilder) defines herself as "a
free-lance mystic" whose work is to minister to the larger spiritual
community, encouraging dialogue and education and appreciation of all spiritual
traditions. Doris is Chaplain emeritus of the Southern California Chapter of
the Parliament of the World’s Religions. She was ordained as an Interfaith Minister
at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, with the 25th
Anniversary Class of The New Seminary, the oldest Interfaith Seminary in
America. Doris holds a Bachelor’s degree in English / Dramatic Literature from U.C.
Berkeley, magna cum laude, 1961, and a Master of Arts in Dance from UCLA, 1969.
She worked for 20 years as an administrator in the public sector including the UCLA
Graduate Schools of Management and Law. At 74 years old she completed an
American cross-country walkabout for six months with her daughter, actress
filmmaker Viveka Davis. Together, they are currently working on a transmedia
work, a play – The Mother’s Road: A Metaphysical Musical. They are part of a
growing number of "sacred activists" who are heralding the much
needed return of the divine feminine in consciousness, communication, culture,
and community.
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Thank you very much for your beautiful poem offering. I was very touched by how you juxtapose gratitude with love, and gave them a residence in the "space" between the soul and the body, as they enter into a dialogue. The spirit of your poem, as I experience it, almost functions as a metaphor of the microcosm of interfaith exchanges: ones that begin within our very selves, and the various parts of our being, starting a conversation, from apparently opposite extremes, yet simultaneously being so intimately united. And from that inner dialogue with oneself, we evolve into the outer dialogue with the world. And the first line just drew me in! Always the sign of a good poem: it draws the reader in from the start! Thank you again.
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