This
is the simplest of truths, yet walking a path of authenticity in a world that
pulls us in every other direction requires us to be courageous souls and adopt
a willingness to shed behind the skins that no longer fit.
This
can be a very lonely road, and at times we will feel like hungry ghosts who
yearn for the ease of warm food, yet find no satisfaction or sustenance from a
life that is not lived soul-deep. Yet, it is also a sacred path, creating a
tapestry of shadow and light, which embraces and learns to love the whole of
our person bringing us to a place of healing and creating a beautifully nuanced
heart. My poem is meant to inspire those on this sacred path.
The
Hungry Ghost
I
will tell you the secret
to
wellness, and it will
be
the simplest yet
hardest
thing you
will
ever do.
Be
yourself.
Pure
you.
That
is all.
Walk
into the world as the real
you,
not the version who comes
programmed
and packaged
to
protect from other people,
prove
to other people,
please
other people.
Be
the you inside who keeps
knocking
hard and urgently
trying
to find an exit strategy
to
escape the well defended
walls
holding you back.
You
will have to slough off
the
residue from others skins,
a
careful exfoliation of tender soul,
until
you are left with no artifice
and
become an author of your
own
truth, crafting a rich
narrative
to define your
genuine
space.
This
may come with a cost
for
it will require the sacrifice
of
warm illusions for colder truths,
and
truth can be a lonely road.
But
with each brave step you
will
step towards your truest of
norths
and find the exquisite life
you
create on the outside start
lining
up with the exquisite
self
you honor on the inside.
You
may feel at times like
the
hungry ghost, nose pressed
against
the bare glass of a room
filled
with a banquet of easy.
And
though you know such feast
will
not offer true sustenance for
your
hungry heart, you can't help
but
yearn for the delicious luxury
of
the road already taken.
Just
know that any true dark
night
of the soul is here to help
burn
through all that isn't real, so
you
have only the purest of materials
left
to help forge your heart into
a
formidable temple of love.
A
time may come when you
have
to break your heart in order
to
save your heart. For the contents
it's
formed itself around are not the
contents
of the authentic you,
and
they suffocate your spirit's
airway
so she cannot inhale the
grace
tinged sky she requires
for
breath.
You
will tug and pull and try
to
extract her from the sticky
tentacles
that keep trying to
reattach
and take your heart back to
lesser.
Until one day you finally have it
free
enough to hold up high then bravely
smash,
so you can sort through the
wreckage
and finally reclaim your
fragile
seeds of self.
A
time may come when life
breaks
your heart for you and
like
a lightening bolt of change,
you
find the ground upon which
you
once stood ripped from the
certitude
of your scrambling feet,
as
tiny pieces of self scatter among
a
sea of change and you are forced
to
leave the safety of shore to go
deep
sea diving and retrieve
your
precious pearls.
And
you will learn somewhere
amidst
the deep currents, that the
ocean
is so wholly alive with beautiful
terror
and awesome wonder, you will
forever
be diving to find more pearls
to
adorn the treasure chest that now
houses
a heart, shining so bright with
radiant
luster, people ask what is your
secret
and you say with absolute authority,
It
is well with my soul.
I
will tell you the secret
to
wellness, and it will
be
the simplest yet
hardest
thing you
will
ever do.
Be
yourself.
Pure
you.
That
is all.
BethAnne Kapansky: I am a Clinical
Psychologist enjoying life from my tiny corner of Anchorage, Alaska. I love
writing personal essays, composing quirky poetry, and creating whimsical art. I
can often be found on top of the nearest mountain or running through the
trails of my beloved woods with my little white dog who has the legs of a
gazelle and mighty heart of a lion. My work has been published in The Elephant Journal and When Women Waken and used in collaboration with a local dance
company to create performance art. I am inspired by nature, rainbows, cake,
hearts, the power of women, the thousand faces of love, and the beautiful
journey of becoming more fully human. I can be found on Facebook or at sunshineinwinter.com.
~If you are interested in seeing your poetry appear in this blog, or submitting a poem by a woman that has inspired you, please click here for submission guidelines. I greatly look forward to hearing from you!~
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