SWALLOWED SWALLOWED

„A soul approaches the border where I keep watch. It is consumed and empty, pieces torn out of it. It has been devoured. Not much is left of her.

You were good. You always gave to those in need. You never wanted anything in return. You fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty and gave a home to the lost.

But more and more came. They grabbed everything you had to give. And you gave more than you could, to the insatiable. What was left was a depleted shell: empty and used up.

Little by little, you lost the belief that giving is a good thing, that your love can satisfy the hunger of others. You took everything and more. Too much, too much. Like salt, they drew every drop of love out of you until it withered. Now it has become powerless. All the gestures, the smile for a stranger, the flower picked and placed in someone else’s hand, all that has become so laborious. You are now just empty and hard, a shell that can no longer give anything.

Come, draw strength. Recharge your inner self. Feast on the never-ending springs that have sprung up around you. I will stay with you until you awaken in a new spring. Let the fresh drops refresh and reawaken you, let them soften the hardness within you so that fresh shoots of affection, generosity and love fill the space around you. Sprout new buds in which sweet fruit lies dormant, waiting to be given. Strengthen yourself so that your inner self remains strong when your strength is needed for those in need. Forgive those who have taken too much and you who have given too much. Let drops of spring freshness become the infinite river of devotion that allows your love to manifest in all its myriad forms; a river that enlivens others as it enlivens you. For this is not the end. You are tired – but you are strong.“