Let Love Out

Let love go, to let it return; Let love out, to let it in. So it is with us: Let us go, so we may return. Let us out, so we may enter Into our own. Let love go from us; May it come full circle. All things are boomerangs. Life can be a catching-game, Or the use of a weapon. But let love out- Let love in. *** Do not be deterred in this; Not even by bullets. The first rule of responsibility; Do not excuse your acts With circumstances, Do not justify or characterize Anything or anyone, Including yourself. Act as you think best, Your acts will speak For themselves, Louder than you ever will With your own mouth. It is not that circumstances Do not affect us, But their affects upon us Cannot conquer our will To change our lives, By changing our habits Of conduct, and of thought- This is a learned impetus That is not taught to all, But must be taught More widely. *** ‘I’ begins outside us; Most of what makes us Was there before us, And brought together- Grown in the wombs Of our mothers, Took shape in the minds And lives Of other people. These cells and standards, These nutrients and notions, Started outside this body, This mind, this life- Someday, they will all Be outside it, again. Our cells recycle Every seven years, And the same air We breathe, The same water We drink, Has been here, Cycled through Millions of bodies, Human and non-human, For millennia. Particles of the same air I breathe may have Been inhaled into the lungs Of Shakespeare, A factory worker In the next city over, A subsistence farmer In the Sudan. While living, we are More than our parts; When we are dead, We will be less. All things pass. Each past was once Someone else’s Only present, And they could not See beyond it, Any more than we Can see beyond ours. We all live, and die- All things come, and go- And fear does not save A single one. *** Life is love, Suffering as roses for beauty, Vicious as a cornered animal, Nervous as a porcupine Unsure if it has Enough quills… Love only comes to us When we let our words Slip from us, carrying What we wanted to hide- When we have courage, To speak as if it had The chance to be real. To act is to make Theoretical chances Into actual possibilities. When we have courage To live as if we have The chance to be strong, And beautiful as our dreams, Fear has lost its power. We may not have lost That fear, but we have Gained something else: The surety that our love And our life matter more. They are worth acting on, Against our fear, And against its control. Run to each challenge Before you think twice, Before you let cowardice In the name of discretion Counsel us- as if wisely- Against the wisdom Of our courage, the joy Of our audacity. Rediscover exhilaration By doing what you once Thought- maybe, once Was five minutes ago- That you could not. Do the kind of good things That intimidate you, And you will grow Faster than anyone Had believed possible. *** There are days when our acts, And the scope of our will, Are more circumscribed by Ourselves than circumstance- Habits of thought, and action. Do you know what you’re doing? Pay attention To all that is in you- And all the people Who are with you, In your heart, By your side. *** Let down your defenses. Cease to guard The boundaries, And the sundry, sordid Secrets of yourself. You have no safe in your heart, You must open yourself To feel free, you must lay down Your arms to feel unafraid- You must say Almost everything If you are to disarm Everyone you once Mistook for enemy. People think they know What guns are for, What words are for; They don’t. *** We think we know the enemy, And sometimes, They think they are Our enemies, too. Perhaps they killed your friends, Your family, your partner, You believed they were Your enemy in fact- They were not. They did not know What they did, And neither do we. They were afraid, They were fools, They were responsible- It is not for to judge. That is for our nations, That is for other people’s politics, And both are ugly business; Neither do much good. Where did judging ever get us? Or defense by offense? We must be better Than what has been done to us, Or we have affirmed The most nihilistic form Of determinism- By choosing to be no more Loving, and no less cruel, Than what was done to us, And saying that is the only way It could be. But, live and let love More than circumstances, More than people, Can ever justify Or deserve- Because who is to say What is just? Who is to say What they deserve? Who is say Unconditional love Is ever lost? *** We will not be dissuaded, Or break ourselves down Before we can even try, Lest our trying disappoint. We will try, risking Disappointment; We will not stop Trying, we will not stop Risking, no matter What disappointment May come. Refuse to stop trying; You deserve to keep on, You may have the victory, And you do not need To take it from anyone- No one has a monopoly On the fulfillment Of a dream, As there are so many Dreams to have. *** We will not harden Our hearts; We will not deny Our will to grow, Though our hearts May ache- Though our growing Will not go forever. We pass on our Hearts, whether They are loving Or unloving; We pass on our Approach to life, Whether it embraces The healthy, Or the unhealthy- The growing, Or the withering. Let us pass on Loving hearts, Let us pass on The vitality Of love for life, Love for labor, Love for love, Love for challenge- Let us pass on A will to rise each day To each loving struggle. *** I used to say, Come in, love, Where are you? I used to say, Come out, life, Where are you? Now, I will go To where you are- Love, life, And my dreams. I will meet you each At least halfway, Or further still; I will do my part, And more. Regardless of reward, Regardless of applause, I will do more Than is asked of me, In the faith- For it is a faith- That love and life, in virtue, Are their own values, An inherent reward. Whether they give Anything else, They give themselves, And so do I. At least, I try. *** Let love in, And let it out. It’s like breathing, This way- Breath is necessary to life, And we do not breathe better By refusing to exhale… Holding onto the air We currently have in our lungs, Attaching ourselves to that- Wouldn’t that be foolish? To continue to breathe Means not to hold our breath. *** It’s not that simple, in life. But it is a useful metaphor To remind us, when Trying too hard to hold on, Not to protest so much Against each that leaves. We all leave, sometimes; Let it go, and move on. *** If someone demands We not let them go, Or even carry them, Let us carry them Twice as far as they asked, Even if it’s past Their destination- If they demand we take Their lives onto our backs, We have become their guides, For we are not Their conveyances- Let us guide them As we think best, But not for our own sake. When we let them down, Let’s walk on Without looking back, Without thinking back. *** Let love go… It will shine out from us Until we, as personalities, Are not even visible- But images, Symbols- Or, nowhere in sight, And that is best of all. To be there, to be present, To be more than ourselves; To do good, Shine on everything. What is worst in you Will not be seen, By you or another, Until it is not even there. When we forget it is there, We forget to act on it Until it is wholly absent In our hearts and our acts. *** I believe in the perfectibility Of human beings- Our capacity to bring ourselves Closer to our ideals Than external circumstances Explain- not simply by will, But a good will that does not Demand, or force, but moves Ever closer. I do not believe in perfection, But our ability to approach The heights of our values- Until a careless vision may Equate the one with the other. Never mistake people For principles made manifest, But dance so close To your virtues that no light Can fall between you. Never forget the two of you Are not wholly the same- But become so near each other, So harmonious, you are often Unable to tell precisely where You leave off, and they begin. Where ego ends, they begin, But where does ego end? Where do they begin? *** Love comes in the same door We open to let it out; Never shut that door. Your heart will no longer Be a house for yourself, But a shrine for the world. When the barriers fall, When the artificial divides Are crumbled, We flow into each other And though we will not Learn to be wholly Without divides In one generation, We can begin to learn They are less firm Than we have made them. In this, as in all things, Love between people- As a metaphor, for embracing The world with understanding- Is the key to opening Our minds and hearts. Neither are wholly ours, Or wholly chosen- But, by choosing What we give away, We choose what we receive; By choosing how much We set down, we choose How much we can pick up. *** Keep room In your arms and hearts, Stay open, Until you really need- Fill that room For someone else, Commit to an embrace Another person requires. You do not have To pick up anything, You do not need to replace You do not need to substitute- The gap is useful, It does not need To be filled. The less you have, The less you feel you need- The more you may give, The more you can give yourself Permission to do so. We can always give That permission, But we rarely give it When we hold on to things, And we rarely stop holding on To things Until we let things go, And have fewer things In our lives. *** You have more money Than you can wisely spend On yourself? Wonderful. Spend it on someone else. You have more thoughts Than you can healthily spend On yourself? Wonderful. Spend them on someone else. You have more desires Than you can satisfy? Wonderful. Satisfy another, And your own will come- The rest will be given you If you give away this. *** Love is the central metaphor; Love is the key to everything, But it does not turn itself; I want to say it is something Other than love, which turns That key, but it is not Something at all- It is a someone, Which lets in the world By first expanding The circle of their love. Turn the key- Meet the world- You are someone, Why not you?