"Because you are at that place ..."

Amulet

Because you are at that place on the road
where demons rear up as you cross the bridge
and water's too high to ford with your load
of worries, and you can't see over the hedge

to know what's coming, and laughter is dead,
I give you these phylactery words to say:
You are alive and in the river, led
by grace and mysterious currents. Pray

even as you breathe in and out. This
is the hour. And you agreed to be here.
You are not drowning but living in bliss,
moving forward toward light earned with your tears.

Be awake. Sing. Hold a moderate pace.
And try not to step out ahead of grace.

— Mary Bradish O'Connor

You are alive and in the river, led
by grace and mysterious currents

Diane read this poem out loud to me while we sat in our guest room at the beach house, homeless and in transition. We wept, I recalling the difficulties and the demands of the past three years. –Earl