One of my favorite poems by Dereck Walcott, picked by Maria Popova, visualized and completed in collaboration with a Collective Intelligence.
The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart to itself,
to the stranger who has loved you all your life,
whom you ignored for another,
who knows you by heart.
The time will come
when you will set out
for the high country of the heart,
where the eagles fly.
your heart will have become
an empty cup
that you’ll be able to fill
with the past, with memory.
The time will come
when you will see
in a flash of light,
your unborn self,
the child you never were,
but always wanted to be,
alive in you,
and when your tears flow
they’ll be for that child.
Thank you, says the child you never were,
for the life you always wanted.The time will come
when your work
will speak
not only of where you’ve been,
but of who you are.
The time will come
when you will do nothing,
for you’ll be
at the center of your life,
and your work,
and when you see your loved ones
they will see you
and they will say,
this is the person I always loved.The time will come
when you will do your work
because it is your delight.
And it will be
as if the sun
and the moon
and the stars
had entered into a single harmony
and you will be
everything that you were meant to be.
In the time of boredom,
in the time of fear,
in the time of your deepest pain,
your life will not be wasted,
if you are able to sayI have lived.
The time will come
when you’ll know
the strength of your heart.
The time will come
when you’ll let go of all that you fear.
The time will come
when you’ll be as
your soul was meant to be.
The time will come
when you’ll be able to sing
with every cell of your body,
sing with the knowledge
of the harmony of which you are a part.
The time will come
when you’ll be able to say,
I have come through.The time will come
when your joy will make you want to weep.
The time will come
when you’ll dance with
the strength of your heart.
The time will come
when you’ll be able
to say,
I am.
