A simple, powerful poem that recurs and recurs with me. Phrases, lines, a word pairing or two, spring forth in my mind when I'm going about my day. I don't remember when I first encountered this poem and I'm not sure how it made its way fully into me, able to make itself known whenever it wants. No matter the day or time or year.
Song
by Allen Ginsberg
The weight of the world
is love.
Under the burden
of solitude,
under the burden
of dissatisfaction
the weight,
the weight we carry
is love.
Who can deny?
In dreams
it touches
the body
in thought
constructs
a miracle,
in imagination
anguishes
till born
in human----looks out of the heart
burning with purity
for the burden of life
is love,
but we carry the weight
wearily,
and so must rest
in the arms of love
at last,
must rest in the arms
of love.
No rest
without love,
no sleep
without dreamsFrom The Collected Poems of Allen Ginsburg 1974-1980
What always sticks with my is the rhythm of this: the weight, the weight we carry is love. The weight, the weight, the weight we carry is love. A nice (or not so much?) chant, no?
