A friend shared this beautiful blessing by John O'Donohue with me during my pregnancy and it became a prayer that I read almost daily as I lived into the truth of it. I'm always so thankful when poems can provide a container for what I am experiencing, and for the words carefully crafted and sewn together by others that are somehow able to express something beyond words.
I share this with others, hoping it will be as much of a treasure for you as it has been for me:
"Nothing could have prepared
your heart to open like this.
From beyond the skies and the stars
This echo arrived inside of you and started to pulse with life
Each beat a tiny act of growth,
Traversing all our ancient shapes,
On its way home to itself.
Once it began, you were no longer your own.
A new, more courageous you, offering itself
In a new way to a presence you can sense
But you have not seen or known.
It has made you feel alone
In a way you never knew before;
Everyone else sees only from the outside
What you feel and feed
with every fiber of your being.
Never have you traveled farther inward
Where words and thoughts become half-light
unable to reach the fund of brightness
Strengthening inside the night of your womb.
Like some primeval moon,
Your soul brightens
The tides of essence
That flow to your child.
You know your life has changed forever,
For in all the days and years to come,
Distance will never be able to cut you off
From the one you now carry
For nine months under your heart.
May you be blessed with quiet confidence
That destiny will guide you and mind you.
May the emerging spirit of your child
Imbibe encouragement and joy
From the continuous music of your heart,
So that it can grow with ease,
Expectant of wonder and welcome
when its form is fully filled
And it makes it journey out
To see you and settle at last
Relieved and glad in your arms.
