I never know where or when subjects for these blogs will grab me. This week I’ve been writing about writing. That blog - all ready to post - will appear next week. This morning, I awoke to see yellow daffodils bobbing in the breeze outside my window - a spring bouquet that seems to have arrived special delivery during the dark rain that fell last night. It reminds me of a poem called, In Impossible Darkness, written by Kim Rosen. Her writing gives us a glimpse into the mystery of transformation - the dramatic shifts and surprises that come with living. The metaphors she uses coincide with the celebration of Easter Sunday.
IN IMPOSSIBLE DARKNESS by Kim Rosen
Do you know how
the caterpillar
turns?
Do you remember
what happens
inside a cocoon?
You liquify.
There in the thick black
of your self-spun womb,
void as the moon before waxing,
you melt
(as Christ did
for three days
in the tomb)
congealing
in impossible darkness
the sheer
inevitability
of wings.
This poem sits in a frame on my desk and its message helps me through difficult times of unexpected change. It's a lesson in my own adaptability - moving me through times of “impossible darkness” to “the sheer inevitability of wings.”
Transformation is everywhere. It’s spring, and soon bubbles of frogs' eggs in our pond will hatch into the aquatic larvae we call tadpoles. They too will transform, their tails and internal gills changing and adapting to live both in and out of the water. None of us escape change. Sometimes it happens so slowly we hardly notice, and sometimes its suddenness is shocking. Transformation is a reality of life.
Look for the blog, Writing, next week. It includes enjoyable, formerly unpublished poems by two new authors, closely related to me.