Vespers

Sometimes, it is difficult to turn the brain off and rest:  one thousand thoughts, big and small, bouncing around the inside of one's skull. Too many things to contemplate. Too much weight on the soul.

We need a blessing for rest. John O'Donohue has one for us.

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As light departs to let the earth be one with night,
Silence deepens in the mind, and thoughts grow slow;
The basket of twilight brims over with colors
Gathered from within the secret meadows of the day
And offered like blessings to the gathering Tenebrae.

After the day's frenzy, may the heart grow still,
Gracious in thought for all the day brought,
Surprises that dawn could never have dreamed:
The blue silence that came to still the mind,
The quiver of mystery at the edge of a glimpse,
The golden echoes of worlds behind voices.

Tense faces unable to hide what gripped the heart,
The abrupt cut of a glance or a word that hurt,
The flame of longing that distance darkened,
Bouquets of memory gathered on the heart's altar,
The thorns of absence in the rose of dreams.

And the whole while the unknown underworld
Of the mind, turning slowly, in its secret orbit.
May the blessing of sleep bring refreshment and release
And the Angel of the moon call the rivers of dream
To soften the hardened earth of the outside life,
Disentangle from the trapped nets the hurt and sorrow,
And awaken the young soul for the new tomorrow.

-John O'Donohue, Vespers, from To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings

Picture copyright 2014, 2015, Mediocria Firma. Used with gratitude.