Cloud Moving Hands

A Prayer for My Mother

77 A prayer for my mother is a prayer for all beings who lie in one bed or another, restless and asleep, chastised and praised, blissful and awake— hospice bed, hotel bed, homemade bed of lovelessness, lumpy bed of childhood, bed of paper, grass and leaves. A prayer for those who wait in a state of grace, graceful confusion, a state of poise and dissolution, arising and expanding to the next set of conditions I take responsibility for. May my lives pass before me in all their sensual splendor. Remember with joy loved ones found and lost, the generosity of animals, the cat that purred comfort through soft fur, � A Prayer for My Mother 78 the dog that took in loneliness with patient affection. Return with peace to the houses that sheltered me, the friends who ate at my table, the tables I sat at, encouraged to take my fill. Reenter the ocean that swelled beneath me, the river that pulsed through me, the lake that calmed my mind. Revisit the tree that shimmers in my fondest dreams, the bluff of rain and mist becoming at the hour of choosing my point of departure. To the unrepeatable life, the body that carried me to this moment to be able to ask forgiveness of those whose hearts in ignorance I broke, to love those who were hardest to love, including myself, I am grateful. 79 Goodbye, beautiful body of life. All that has passed prepares me for this unfolding origination, embedded at the coming into of existence. Arising and expanding, formless, accepting. May I not miss this crossing as a bridge. Bridge of light I cross with courage now. ...