I discovered this poem while in Charleston, SC. I was in a yoga class when I heard Tara Sophia Mohr, Your Other Names. I was in Charleston to be with my Dad who sadly passed away a few days after I heard this poem. While I am still on the tip of the impact of such a huge loss, what I do know for sure is how important it is to Pay Attention. In the moment. That is really all we have.
This Poem…..It is like a prayer to me. Maybe a Mantra. I particularly love the the last line!
Thank you Elli for introducing me to this
In the end
you won’t be known
for the things you did,
or what you built,
or what you said.
You won’t even be known
for the love given
or the hearts saved,
because in the end you won’t be known.
You won’t be asked, by a vast creator full of light:
What did you do to be known?
You will be asked: Did you know it,
this place, this journey?
What there is to know can’t be written.
Something between the crispness of air
and the glint in her eye
and the texture of the orange peel.
What you’ll want a thousand years from now is this:
a memory that beats like a heart–
a travel memory, of what it was to walk here,
alive and warm and textured within.
Sweet brightness, aliveness, take-me-now-ness that is life.
You are here to pay attention. That is enough.