Three Words That Will Change Your Life

[lillibet]

Today at church we had a guest speaker, the Rev. Elizabeth Stephens. She preached on the topic of being wrong, being flawed, making mistakes, and learning that you are enough. She told a wonderful story about being the wrong person in a situation where someone was needed and there was no one else. And she pointed out that we are Human Beings, not Human Doings, which I thought was a clever reminder of much larger themes. And she read this poem, by one of my favorite poets, that I had not previously encountered.

let it go - the
smashed word broken
open vow or
the oath cracked length
wise - let it go it
was sworn to
go

let them go - the
truthful liars and
the false fair friends
and the boths and
neithers - you must let them go they
were born
to go

let all go - the
big small middling
tall bigger really
the biggest and all
things - let all go
dear

so comes love

~ e. e. cummings ~

Comments

[kalliejenn2.livejournal.com]

that feels so much like Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art" that it's almost eerie. i love e.e. cummings so.

[kalliejenn2.livejournal.com]

(by which I mean the feeling the poem evokes in me, not the meaning of the poem)

[muffyjo]

The "Human Beings" not "Human Doings" really resonated with me. And the poem gives lots of food for thought. Thank you for posting this.

[outerjenise.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I enjoyed that sermon a lot, too, especially since the two zen stories she told seemed to come straight out of John J. Muth books. ;)

Good reminder to me that I should go reread cummings. I loved his stuff as an undergrad and haven't touched it since.