You Are Here
In our Tuesday Meditation circle, we are currently discussing The December Project - a book about the spiritual work of aging. Often we find ourselves discussing how we got HERE. The "here" is in the context of an older age where we find ourselves in a place where we have to accept new realities due to physical or other limitations. It can feel like a foreign land. The "immigrant" in this poem could be us.
“Norse Saga”
by Dan Vera.
“Let us praise the immigrant
who leaves the tropics
and arrives in Chicago
in the dead of winter.
“Let us praise the immigrant
who has never worn coats
who must bundle up
against an unimaginable cold.
“For they will write letters home
that speak of it like Norse sagas
with claims that if a frigid hell exists
the entrance is hidden somewhere in this city.
“Let us praise the immigrant
who fears the depths of the subway
the disappearance of landmarks
to guide them through the labyrinth.
“Let us praise the immigrant
who dreams of the pleasures of sunstroke
who wakes each morning to the alien sight
of their breath suspended in the cold city air.”
- “Norse Saga” comes from Dan Vera’s book Speaking Wiri Wiri. You can listen to a Poetry Unbound podcast featuring this poem at onbeing.org.
- Photo by Philippe Leone on Unsplash