A Poem by Suzanne Foxton
“Why, Courage Then! What Cannot Be Avoided ‘Twere Childish Weakness To Lament or Fear.” — Suzanne Foxton
Here I am, and here I stay
I am everything today.
I am time, and I am space,
Every deed, and every placeEvery when is when I am
I am lion, I am lamb
I am anger, I am peace
I will never ever cease.I, the only thing that’s real,
That can harm, and that can heal,
I, the only thing that lasts,
No more futures, no more pasts.I am what has always been.
I am sainthood, I am sin.
I am everything I see.
I am what it is to be.All that happens, that is me
All love and antipathy.
I cannot reject myself;
Take me from the dusty shelf.Everything - yes, that is me.
I am all, totality
I am me, and I am you.
This, no matter what I do.
November 5th, 2009 at 10:09 am
I love this. It’s deceptively simple but very, very powerful. These are my favourite lines:
November 5th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Yeah, the dusty shelf line threw me off a little too, but I dare not explicate for the talented poet is as much lion as lamb!
November 14th, 2009 at 4:40 am
The dusty shelf - just a little nod to apparent separation, despite all-encompassing wholeness.
Thanks for putting this on your blog!
Love, Suzanne
November 14th, 2009 at 6:03 am
Hi Suzanne
I love the possibilities of “Take me from the dusty shelf.” Many things can sit on a shelf, but a book comes first to mind. What does the book want if it wants to be taken from the shelf? It wants to be touched, held, read, heard, understood. It wants to spend time in the lap of a human and be thought about and talked about and shared and remembered. It wants to connect with people viscerally, emotionally, intellectually. A book wants the same things that we want. It wants to be loved.
If the dusty shelf line seems incongruous at first glance, at second glance it appears that the only way for the “book” to be heard is to stand out from the other lines, which it does perfectly. I love your little poem with a whopper of a title — it swings!
November 27th, 2009 at 4:13 am
I am lion, I am lamb
Well , you surely remember: The celtic mythic shaman Taliesin (the book of almergin , 10th century)
said
” I was a golden spear in the battle
I was a rain drop in the wind
I was a letter in a book
I was an eagle, a lion
I was a string in a harp
nine years long
I was a powerful bridge
over three times twenty rivers”
(and so on and so on)
Or - out of the “Blessingway” , a famous chantway of Navaho (Dineh) Indian people:
Now the feet of (mother) earth are my feet
Now the legs of (mother) earth are my legs
Now the voices of my mother earth is my voice
Now the headfeather of mother Earth is my headfather
Now I am long life, I am strong life before me , I am strang life after me
(and so on)
ni yo o!
December 2nd, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Hi Renaud
The poems you shared are beautiful. Thank you. I had to google ni yo o. It gave me ‘There is no you only me’. Pretty cool. Thanks for that too. If I squint a little I can see the truth in those words. I love poetry, and your whopper of a name. Come back.