“Outrageous Love” Poem by Cerridwen

We are pleased to be able to share with you the inspiring poem below, written and submitted by Shalom sangha member and energy healer Cerridwen following the Shalom Mountain Wisdom School in Livingston Manor, NY, October 10-13.  Dr. Marc Gafni, Wisdom Teacher in Residence at Shalom, unfolded teachings on Pleasure, Addiction, and Eros at this retreat, and the sangha celebrated together the Outrageous Love dharma. Cerridwen says the retreat experience moved her closer to this draft of her poem.

Outrageous Love
by Cerridwen

“In a world of outrageous pain, the only response is outrageous love.”  ~ Marc Gafni

I aspire to love outrageously, to embrace the world as my beloved,
the beauty, the pain, seeing, holding, honoring the sacredness of all that is.

I am not sufficient.  I am small with this my frail and limited body,
my flawed incarnation, my distracted mind and aching heart.  
My small self is not for this task.   But I can pray big, invoking large.

I call upon Kuan Yin,  
Bodhisattva of  Compassion, Goddess of Mercy.
You of a thousand, million arms and hands,
each with an eye to see long and large;
You who see and hear the cries of the world
holding a willow tree twig and a small bottle,
catching tears, offering healing Soma.  

I call upon Great Grandmother Willow,
gentle elder who carries tears to the earth;  
Whispering One, of a thousand, million branches;
You of the dowsing rod leading to the waters of life.
I will tie clootie prayers to this branch of yours by the well of my heart.

I call upon the One and the Many in the Great Mystery,
teachers, prophets, angels and guides,
loving through and beyond sorrow and joy.  
I call and welcome you into my life and being.  
Grow my soul large and strong.

Oh Beloved World of beauty and pain, we meet most especially
through loving, welcoming eyes held constant through the rushing torrent:
tears, frowns, quivering lips,
eyes bright, wet, corners alive, wrinkled and wrinkling;
mouth open, body shaking, rocking:  a yawn, a gasp, a scream;
sometimes all the way into an explosion of ecstatic joy, pleasure and laughter.

I call upon the Great Mystery to open me again and again to the larger flow,
trees and earth holding, catching, lifting up, letting go,
rivers and oceans of love through me and the World, my Beloved.

Cerridwen, October 2013

Cerridwen, M.A., is the owner of Aligning Energies, a body-centered connection for guidance, empowerment and healing. She brings to her work over 30 years of teaching and healing experience, expertise in a wide range of healing and empowerment modalities, and a deep caring and compassion drawn from experience with her own life challenges and spiritual journey. Cerridwen recently attended the Wisdom School at Shalom Mountain.