“Which is bigger,” he asks me, “the ocean or sky,”
and I want to tell him the heart, which even today
has been practicing vastness, is learning to say yes
in new languages, learning to stretch beyond
the center, beyond the lips, learning to be more moon
and less woman, to reflect light without owning it,
learning to lose whatever it has used before as a measure.
This is the way I want to love: in an idiom stronger
than tongues, I want to love in the way that tides pull
and release, like the moon which holds without touch,
I want to invite the sky to create a bigger space in me
a place spacious enough to hold all the wings
of the passing moment. I want to be buoyant enough
to carry all of love’s weight. “The sky,” I say.
“The sky is bigger, but the ocean is also wide.”
He is satisfied by my words, closes his eyes.
In my chest, a star falls. In my belly
strong tug of tides.
by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
A poignant poem on how to love, by the prolific Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. She has been sharing her poem-a-day practice with the world since 2005, and now has beautiful, reflective poems on countless topics on her website.
In reading and mulling on it, I too feel that longing, that intention to love more deeply and fully with each passing day. i was particularly struck by ‘I want to be buoyant enough to carry all of love’s weight’ – and feel acutely that while on some days it seems as light as a sunbeam, there are also days or times where that wish feels real and urgent.
Luckily, intentions are powerful, so may our love keep growing!
Photo by Jordan Steranka on Unsplash