For some inspiration today, I thought I’d post Derek Walcott’s classic poem, “Love After Love.” It has become a powerful text for me in my recovery.
The time will comemirror.png
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

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Therese Borchard
I am a writer and chaplain trying to live a simple life in Annapolis, Maryland.

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2 Responses
  1. Kate

    Great poem. I look forward to the time when I am able to greet myself with elation and feast on my life. Some days it feels like it makes for a pretty dismal meal… Thanks for the reminder.