The True Love

by David Whyte (chosen by Callum Douglas)

There is a faith in loving fiercely the one who is rightfully yours
especially if you have waited years and especially
if part of you never believed you could deserve this
loved and beckoning hand held out to you this way.

I am thinking of faith now
and the testaments of loneliness
and what we feel we are worthy of in this world.

Years ago in the Hebrides I remember an old man
who walked every morning on the grey stones
to the shore of baying seals,

who would press his hat to his chest in the blustering salt wind
and say his prayer to the turbulent Jesus hidden in the water,

and I think of the story of the storm and everyone waking and seeing
the distant yet familiar figure far across the water calling to them,

and how we are all preparing for that abrupt waking,
and that calling, and that moment we have to say yes,

except it will not come so grandly, so Biblically,
but more subtly and intimately in the face
of the one you know you have to love,

so that when we finally step out of the boat toward them,
we find everything holds us,
and everything confirms our courage, and if you wanted
to drown, you could
but you don’t
because finally after all this struggle and all these years,
you don’t want to any more, you’ve simply had enough of drowning,
and you want to live and you want to love and you will
walk across any territory and any darkness,
however fluid and however dangerous, to take the
one hand you know
belongs in yours.