amazing poem

this poem, shared yesterday by a friend, says it so well (thank you AEH).

all the things we should stay open to, and search for, and allow. how we should try to respond. to live simply, to value all that comes to us, learn from what is in our path, move toward and not away.  experience, experience, experience.  seek to tread lightly, to speak more softly, yet boldly, to venture and return.


Please Bring Strange Things


Please bring strange things.
Please come bringing new things.
Let very old things come into your hands.
Let what you do not know come into your eyes.
Let desert sand harden your feet.
Let the arch of your feet be the mountains.
Let the paths of your fingertips be your maps
And the ways you go be the lines of your palms.
Let there be deep snow in your inbreathing
And your outbreath be the shining of ice.
May your mouth contain the shapes of strange words.
May you smell food cooking you have not eaten.
May the spring of a foreign river be your navel.
May your soul be at home where there are no houses.
Walk carefully, well-loved one,
Walk mindfully, well-loved one,
Walk fearlessly, well-loved one.
Return with us, return to us,
Be always coming home.

- Ursula K. Le Guin