Love after Love by Derek Walcott

Love after Love by Derek Walcott

The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This poem speaks volumes to me and I know so many other people out there. "Give back your heart to itself, the stranger who has loved you all your life, whom you ignored for another, who knows you by heart."
The notion of always being there for yourself, to smile back at yourself in the mirror, not as a stranger whom you have not seen or acknowledged in a while but a familiar face that you recognize as your own. Just thinking about what that truly means is a question I have been tackling my entire life. To accept my flaws and to praise my talents, and to acknowledge them and feed them.
This also links to a site a friend of mine just brought to my attention: www.soulpancake.com
A place where people ponder and share their thoughts on life's questions. I came across one interesting question of "How do you seize the day?" and It got me thinking about the patterns we lock ourselves into and how to break away from those patterns. Looking back in my life, the most joyous times are when I was venturing into uncharted territory and pushing myself to strive for something new and challenging. Years ago when I entered undergrad it was terrifying and blissful, yet now the prospect of that whole process is somewhat paralyzing. Change is terrifying but remembering Derek Walcott's poem if I greet myself to a feast of my life, it won't be so challenging a task.