On 45

Photograph By: William David Sims Jr.

I love you like certain dark things are to be loved, between the shadow and the soul.

-Pablo Neruda

I am

dark things

home

infinite sacred emptiness

I am

complected in shades of gray

landing midair

I

choose dying season as my birthing season

October

death dresses leaves in fire colors

descending on wind’s breath

quiet surrender to great mother’s embrace

a thousand small deaths

mirroring my own

45

a thousand small deaths

with which I paid my dues for the right to live

I

pray

like the leaves

my small deaths be dignified

this tree

I am

shedding

to make way for new births

when birthing season comes

I

pray

the inevitable big death

I grow closer to with every breath

is

glorious.

Awareness is medicine. Until next time, be like water my friends…reflect and flow.

1. What do you feel had to die for you to be born into this life?

2. What are the ways in which this death has shaped your life?

3. How do you honor death and dying, both big and small?

4. What part of you/your story are you shedding this dying season?

5. What kind of support/holding do you need/want as you prepare and move through the transition process?

6. What new birth are you making way for?

7. How will you celebrate your aliveness?