Nobody Daily – 6/24/08

LET GO OF IT ALL

Nobody Asked Me But:

“Let go of it all and see where it takes you.” James Kavanaugh

Many years ago, at a party, I found myself talking with a close friend and a friend of hers just in from Washington D.C. Both women were hugely ambitious and seemingly just a little uneasy with it. I, on the other hand, had just read the Kavanaugh poem below and was under its spell. I talked with them about “letting go of it all,” the plans and ambitions, the security and conquests, the high mountains and deep holes. I talked to them about finding oneself in laughter and peace - and in ultimate truth of the moment. I talked to them as if I had bought into Kavanaugh’s dream, because I had.

I think that they bought it too, but only for the moment. I am sure that as they returned to the demands of the party and, in the days after, to the demands of success, the moment faded. I know it did and does for me. But I hope they remembered our conversation, as I do, and found, as I have, a few moments in the days and years since when they could let it all go and be at one with themselves and with the world.


LET GO OF IT ALL

By James KAVANOUGH

Let go of it all and see where it takes you.
Let the money slide away and the tense young men
who talk of security and conquests.
Let the cars whiz by, the square jaws and too bright eyes.
stumble and fall and lie prone upon the earth
until you taste the dirt again and make friends with the fog.
Toss your plans aboard the first wind heading north
and your ambitions on a breeze heading south.
Let it all descend upon you like lava and sunshine
and let the clouds guide you as they will.
There is no mountain high enough to climb with
final satisfaction,
no hole deep enough to dig, no ocean vast enough to cross.
There is only laughter and peace and the present moment,
your breath in unison with the throbbing earth,
your flight as aimless and transient as the birds.
Let it all go and wash you like the rain,
Let it all go and buffet you like the wind,
Let it all go and see where it takes you
until you are one with the earth and all its
inhabitants.