Longing

Today, I’m preparing to travel to Hawaii, my former home and the home that is forever in my heart.

And this week, it’s my birthday! In celebration of both a New Year and another year of my existence, I am writing a list of longings—desires shaped by the poem Let Birds by Linda Gregg.

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Let me grow, unhurried, into the shape of who I am becoming—
and then bigger.

Let me say what I mean,

Let me never again smile to smooth an ego

Let my "no" fall freely like rain.

Let the ocean move within me,
even when I am 1,000 miles away from the shore.

Let the quiet.

Let the question of my loneliness curl beside me like an old friend.

Let my lungs burn.
Let my legs fly forward.
Let the lake at dusk.

Let the seasons grow me.

Let dancing be a prayer I have never known how to speak,
and let my body be free.

And let me find all the ways
to fall more in love with the unfolding.

Happy wandering.

~ Rebecca