Welcome to my ramblings, musing, rants and raptures.
Here I am, sticking a toe into the soggy bloggy world...
Stay tuned for a mix of theatre-based brilliance and drivel. Today I must use this time to catch up on my reading as my attendance at the Columbus Tennessee Williams Festival has put me a smidge behind in my scholarly duties.
For now, I will leave you with an exerpt from John O' Donohue's Benedictus. This was hand-painted by my students from MUW on a slab of luan which bore painted evidence of three or four different plays I had directed them in. On one side they painted the blessing, on the other side, each wainted a wish for me. It was given to me as a going-away present. The blessing became a bit of a mantra for me as I went through the transition of leaving a very fulfilling position with the MUW Theatre Department to pack up my life and join the ranks of LSU Theatre PhD students. SO here's to dedication to scholarly pursuits, to a life offered up to the creation of art, to exploration, growth, fearlessness and most of all, to the nurturing of a sense of passionate wonder.
For a New
Beginning
In out-of-the-way places of
the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has
watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the
seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your
courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is
not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life's desire.
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life's desire.
Awaken your spirit to
adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
~ John O'Donohue
~
(To Bless the Space Between
Us)
