Thoughtful Thursday

As I was poking around one of my favorite bookstores recently, I wandered into an little recess that I hadn't ever been to before.

The archway through to this nook was quite different from the others, and I immediately knew that this space was somehow sacred.

Sure enough, on one of the walls was a small plaque dedicated to one of the founders of the book store and, to quote the writer, his "co-heart".

Don't you just love that phrase? It speaks so much more than the mere "spouse" or "partner"; it truly gets to the core of things.

Sadly, it would appear that dedication was in fact a monument; the honoree passed on in 2001.

Below the plaque with the story of the bookstore and of Jane Hooper was an offering; a take-away version of a poem that she had written.

While it exudes a beautiful timeless quality, it also seems to resonate with the upcoming holiday season and that anxious, anticipated, cherished, sometimes tenous reuniting of souls where intention doesn't always mesh with execution.

So, on this cold Thursday, when we wish for warmth and love and companionship - and all that is 'home' - enjoy this piece. It's as much a benediction as it is poetry.

PLEASE COME HOME by Jane Hooper

Please come home. Please come home.
Find the place where your feet know where to walk
And follow your own trail home.

Please come home. Please come home into your own body,
Your own vessel, your own earth.
Please come home into each and every cell,
And fully into the space that surrounds you.

Please come home. Please come home to trusting yourself,
and your instincts and your ways and your knowings,
and even the particular quirks of your personality.

Please come home. Please come home and once you are firmly there,
please stay home awhile and come to a deep rest within.
Please treasure your home. Please love and embrace your home.
Please get a deep, deep sense of what it's like to be truly home.

Please come home. Please come home, and when you're really, really ready,
and there's a detectable urge on the outbreath, then please come out.
Please come home and please come forward.
Please express who you are to us, and please trust us
to see you and hear you and touch you
and recognize you as best we can.

Please come home. Please come home and let us know
all the nooks and crannies that are calling to be seen.
Please come home, and let us know the More
that is there that wants to come out.

Please come home, Please come home,
for you belong here now. You belong among us.
Please inhabit your place fully so we can learn from you,
from your voice and your ways and your presence.

Please come home, Please come home,
and when you feel yourself home, please welcome us too,
for we too forget that we belong and are welcome,
and that we are called to express and fully be who we are.

Please come home, Please come home,
you and you and you and me.

Thank you Earth for welcoming us,
and thank you touch of eyes and ears and skin,
touch of love for welcoming us.

May we wake up and remember who we truly are.

Please come home. Please come home. Please come home. Ho.