by Lory Widmer Hess

Let go of the lies that live in the light,
the fanciful flashing of false revelation.
Don’t listen to voices that vibrate within,
tolling the deafening drum of self.
Close your eyes and ears and only feel,
sense your way forward, dark and soft,
remembering a body you once held so close,
Once knew with such innocent tenderness,
skin upon skin in ultimate trust,
and weep for your loss, for your yearning hands
that now hold only emptiness.
Let go of everything else but this absence,
and wait, all unworthy, for fullness of time
to fill you with overflowing love.

Lory Widmer Hess is an American currently living with her family in Switzerland. She has worked for the past ten years with adults with developmental disabilities, from whom she has learned her greatest life lessons, and is in training as spiritual director. Her writing has been published in Parabola, Red Letter Christians, Kosmos Quarterly, Christian Community Perspectives, and other print and online publications. She blogs at enterenchanted.com and can be found on Mastodon at @lorywidmerhess@bookstodon.com.