A Love That Restores

On early morning walks when the sun shines brightly behind me; I become another reflection of nature, like the shadows that surround me.

I am "only one thing among many";

as Polish-American poet, Czeslaw Milosz, writes in his poem, Love.

Love is a poem I want to memorize. I want to let the words soak deeply into my soul. Though brief, Milosz has expertly captured the essence of love. He reminds us that we inherently belong to each other. This is a definition of love, which restores me.

It's comforting to remember that I am not at the center of everything. I am part of a whole. My purpose is to move through this world with a willingness to serve and to put my love into action.

"And whoever sees that way heals his heart,"

Sometimes we get to see the results when we serve with good intentions, but that is not what matters. The doing is our pupose.

Here’s the full text (translated by Robert Hass):

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Love means to learn to look at yourself The way one looks at distant things For you are only one thing among many. And whoever sees that way heals his heart, Without knowing it, from various ills— A bird and a tree say to him: Friend.

Then he wants to use himself and things So that they stand in the glow of ripeness. It doesn’t matter whether he knows what he serves: Who serves best doesn’t always understand.