Lindsay L. O'Connor

before you go
 
Stay with yourself
Stay with this moment
Stay with this holy unfolding
Stay with this goodness.
When your wise body 
tells you “This is good,”
Stay.
 
When your chest is wide open,
expanding the width of the whole world,
so entwined with creation
that the very breeze feels like
the breath expanding your lungs—
Stay.
Linger on this holy ground.
 
When you glimpse the magic
of a loved one caught in between
who they were and who they are becoming,
Stay.
 
When out of the grey, dreary landscape,
a bright red cardinal
alights on the bush in your neighbor’s yard,
Stay.
 
When you feel the sting of grief—
a missing of someone or something you lost…
maybe it was certainty
or innocence
or a stage of life that you suddenly glimpse
in the rearview mirror, 
wondering when exactly it moved
from in front to behind—
Stay.
 
Be with your tender heart
while she reminds you that you’re human.
 
When someone reflects back to you
the glorious truth of who you are,
their words dripping
with so much love, 
it’s almost unbearable,
Stay.
 
Drain every last drop of sunshine 
from the cup offered to you in this moment.
Drink it up 
and feel every particle sliding down,
coating your throat
teaching you how
to bear the beams of love.
Before you go,
Stay.

~Lindsay L. O’Connor