This morning, a dear friend shared a poem by Louise Gluck, this year’s Literature Nobel Prize winner. It resonated so much inside me that I felt the urge to write about it. It’s called “Matins”, which means morning prayer. As a coach, I am learning the importance of having mantras, prayers, or metaphors that remind us of who we want to be and what values we want to show in our lives.
To me, this poem beautifully pictures what we do when we feel lost or are looking for that extra courage to leap forward. We are waiting to find answers, a sign, a light that will guide us, but in truth, we must just live without answers, or signs and trace our own future with courage. Courage is taking that next step or jumping without knowing what lies ahead, but it's okay because the gain can bring so many more possibilities and the journey so much learning. I hope you enjoy it as I did :
You want to know how I spend my time?
I walk the front lawn, pretending
to be weeding. You ought to know
I'm never weeding, on my knees, pulling
clumps of clover from the flower beds: in fact
I'm looking for courage, for some evidence
my life will change, though
it takes forever, checking
each clump for the symbolic
leaf, and soon the summer is ending, already
the leaves turning, always the sick trees
going first, the dying turning
brilliant yellow, while a few dark birds perform
their curfew of music. You want to see my hands?
As empty now as at the first note.
Or was the point always
to continue without a sign?
Louis Gluck, Nobel Prize 2020
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