Found Within the Poem*
By Louise Dery-Wells
For Poetry Is For All People events 2001

You are not lost.
There is a poem in which you wander
Perhaps like a dark forest inward and filled with shadows
Or a broad desert of endless vistas open and vitalizing.

But as the signal tree on the ridge beckons with bent finger
And the raven flies ahead of you to show the way
A poem is possessed of a similar kind of ancient magic
It leads us to answers that can only be heard by the heart.

If you are afraid of the journey breathe with the rhythm
Of waves crashing on the shores of weathered lives
Whose collective wisdom will show you the direction of the sea
And the path that descends to find a new sunrise.

You are not lost.
Every line and stanza, each blaze and stone cairn will mark the trail
And help you to recover children, friends and other loved ones along the way
Holding meaning in painful wanderings and life’s travail.

Found again we discover our lives within the poem
Unfolding landscapes of rich and vibrant metaphor
A meandering path perhaps but towards ourselves
Something in which we can place our trust to lead us home.

*Inspired by a poem given by a Native American Elder from the Northwest coast rendered into English by David Wagoner as a poem called Lost (printed in The Heart Aroused by David Whyte)

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Louise Dery-Wells

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