Where Love Resides

Feb 2, 2004

There is a place she can't go. A place where love is stored and its light radiates. The light warms her during times of coldness. It makes the dark paths visible. When sorrow overwhelms her, this light, though a flicker, gives her enough hope not to succumb.In times of inexplicable joy, it burns brightly and dances in her eyes. This place where love resides is ancient, timeless. It is God's love for her placed at the core of her being. She wants to wake up. She wants to be at peace with this truth. She wants this to be enough to stop her questions. Questioning her worthiness of existing, her worthiness of being loved, the nobility of her being. She wants to wake up from sleepwalking. This place she can't go, where God's love resides, is sacred. It's imperishable. No sin, no deed decreases or increases this Love. She can't walk into Love's chambers but she can feel the strength of Its power if she allows herself. The light radiated by Love has kept her alive and fighting. Love is the great encourager. Love is what makes cowards brave. Love is patient. Love is forgiving. Love is just. Love is what lets her know that she is not alone. God's love is the light within. The energy that wakes her in the morning, kisses her eyes asleep at night. When will every member of her body know this? When will her mind comprehend what her heart and soul already know? There is a place she can't go. A place where love is stored and its light radiates.

In a Room With Alice Walker

"To acknowledge our ancestors means we are aware that we did not make oursleves, that the line stretches all the way back, perhaps, to God; or to Gods. We remember them because it is an easy thing to forget: that we are not the first to suffer, rebel, fight, love and die. The grace with which we embrace life, inspite of the pain, the sorrows, is always a measure of what has gone before."
- Alice Walker, "Fundamental Difference

A poem she read in a workshop at Hong-Ik University Seoul, South Korea.

Be Nobody's Darling

Be nobody's darling;
Be an outcast.
Take the contridictions
Of your life
And wrap around
You like a shawl,
To parry stones
To keep you warm.

Watch the people succumb
To madness
With ample cheer;
Let them look askance at you
And you askance reply.

Be an outcast;
Be pleased to walk alone
(Uncool)
Or line the crowded
River beds
With other impetuous
Fools.

Make a merry gathering
On the bank
Where thousands perished
For brave hurt words
They said.

Be nobody's darling;
Be an outcast.
Qualified to live
Among your dead.