“What to Remember when Waking”

“To become human is to become visible,

while carrying what is hidden as a gift to others.

To remember the other world in this world

is to live in your true inheritance.

You are not a troubled guest on this earth,

you are not an accident amidst other accidents,

you were invited from another and greater night

than the one from which you have just emerged.”

~Devid Whyte, excerpted from “What to Remember when Waking”

It’s been a while since I’ve shared poetry on this blog. This month, I’ve been rereading and savoring the work of Anglo-Irish poet David Whyte. He’s one of the contemporary poets I turn to when I need encouragement, and his words never fail to lift or console.

This excerpt from “What to Remember when Waking” reminds us that every human being has a unique purpose and a life to treasure. (To read the entire poem, click here.) As Whyte said in his personal notes about this poem, “Waking up every day is a discipline.” Every single day, we are called to rediscover and use our own “hidden” gifts — the gifts that we inherited and were meant to offer the world. ~CL

Want to read more David Whyte? My all-time favorite Whyte poem, “Sweet Darkness,” is featured in one of my earlier blog posts, which you can read here.