“We Are All Just Walking Each Other Home”

A favorite poem, by Lawrence Tirnauer* for anyone who (sometimes or all the time) is challenged to get a full night’s sleep –  accompanied by an amazing quote by Ram Dass.   Whether we are meeting in our mind’s eye in the middle of the night, or in real life, we need each other on this journey “home.” We come from Oneness and we return.

 

The Sleepless Ones*

 

What if all the people

who could not sleep

at two or three or four

in the morning

left their houses

and went to the parks

what if hundreds, thousands,

millions

went in solitude

like a stream

and each told their story

what if there were

old women

fearful if they slept

they would die

and young women

unable to conceive

and husbands, wives

having affairs

and children

fearful of failing

and fathers, mothers

worried about paying bills

and men, women

having business troubles

and both unlucky in love

and those that were in physical

pain

and those who were guilty

what if they all left their homes

like a stream

and the moon

illuminated their way and

they came, each one

to tell their stories

would these be the more troubled

of humanity

or would these be

the more passionate of this world

or those who need to create to live

or would these be

the lonely

ones

and I ask you

if they all came to parks

at night

and told their stories

would the sun on rising

be more radiant and

again I ask you

would they embrace?

~ Lawrence Tirnauer

* Some amazing history of this poem that I just learned: Lawrence’s beautiful poem was written in a poetry workshop led by John Fox at the Omega Institute nineteen years ago.  John is the director of the Institute of Poetic Wisdom.  As John was so moved by this poem, it became the frontispiece to his book, Poetic Medicine: The Healing Art of Poem Making which can be found here: http://amzn.to/1CgmEJI   

Please check out John’s wonderful website:  http://www.poeticmedicine.com/  John was very gracious to share this precious history with me as unfortunately, Lawrence Tirnauer died of brain cancer about ten years ago.  The world we live in is a wonder – connections made around the world.  I am grateful once again to the Internet and meeting amazing people in this medium.  PS – I first heard this poem at an all-day mindfulness retreat with Jack Kornfield 🙂  The world goes round and round – and yes, we all are just “walking each other home.”