I loved someone once so deeply that loved their addiction more than they loved themselves and life. Perhaps you have loved someone like that or still do. If you have been touched by the darkness of addiction in your life through your own addiction or someone else’s addiction you may resonate with the imagery of the piece I entitled Invisible Weaver.
You are a basket weaver
Who recently suffered from a stroke
And can no longer use his hands
To weave the intricacies
That hold life in tact
You can no longer use your mind
To envision the form
Or to even pretend
Through all the dressings of your cloak
I see you walk through the field
Your basket in hand
Picking the fruits
Of your invisible labor
But the basket weaves
They unravel
One by one
As the darkness in your heart
Consumes you
With each passing moment
And you get to the end
Crooked smile in tow
To enjoy the sweetness
Of your finds
But nothing is there
And instead of weaving another basket
You weave webs in your mind
A vague buoyancy
Soon disintegrating into nothingness
The best we can do for ourselves and those we love that are battling addiction is to love from a compassionate distance. We cannot change them. We can however guide them only to remember the divine light within and then we must let go. The invisible weaver speaks to a disease that not only can attack the addicted, but can also attack the one trying to help. Never stop loving and never stop being compassionate, but do so without attachment. In this way we find peace with a difficult and painful situation.
As Mary Oliver has said “I loved someone once that gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.” As we navigate the dark spaces and relationships in our life, let us not forget the gems of growth and awakening that can emerge like Phoenix rising from the ash.
And so it is, in the darkest hours of our life we find the brightest gift of light from the divine.
Om Shanti Om ~ Athea
