Through the Rapids

The Bhagirathi flowing through Harsil Valley

Through the Rapids

The drama is no more,
the sadness has fled,
and all seriousness
has run for the hills.
The dam has broken.
The river of emotions,
once permitted to flow,
washes the future away
and rinses out the past,
revealing timelessness,
leaving me in serenity.
Now there is stillness.
Now there is gladness
beyond understanding.

To run the rapids of life
is to welcome the pain,
the suffering, the loss,
and the varied forms
of holy brokenness
in service to Love.
The day I slammed
straight into the rock
and cracked wide open
was the day I came home
to the real and adamantine.
All that perished was the idea
that I am other than the source
of the water that rushes onwards.

Without falsehood, only Truth is,
and in the clear light of Divinity,
in the blinding bright of today,
each instant tastes of heaven.
Now as I drift down the river,
carried on currents of shanti
past all tumbling and tumult,
I am grateful for this passage,
thankful for the whole journey
into the peaceful abiding of God,
into the sanctuary of realized Love.

This poem is part of a collection titled The Longing of God for God.