Advent Day Twenty-Three:

Vibrant, electric, tangerine transformed my little girl legs into magic. Or something, and I wanted to put on those orange pants everyday when I was small. My mom would “bribe” me to put on a dress or something else when we went to parties or somewhere by saying I could put my orange awesomeness back on as soon as we got home.

Advent Day Twenty-Three

The girl in today’s collage reminds me of myself as a little girl. Here, looking to the light, wondering, watching, waiting.

Rilke encourages me embrace the darkness, to let it strengthen me, and to be knowing, being, knowing.

Quiet friend who has come so far,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.
Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,

what batters you becomes your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.

In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.

And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am.

Sonnets to Orpheus II, 29 (Translated by Joanna Macy)