Field of Reeds

On the Judgment Day they took me down
to my grandmas house at the break of dawn.
It had been so long.
The chairs were cracked and the curtains were torn
and nothing remained of the laughter I’d grown up on.
All of it gone.

And they said, “Look around, for this is all to show
that love is not a returning.
Love is learning to let go.”

I saw where it leads, the river of my trembling heart!
Down to a field of reeds,
back to the place where the ending meets the start.
Start, start, start.

Then they led me upstairs down a hallway
and I heard a woman laugh
taking a bath.
I pushed open the door, I saw her there in the tub.
Her head underwater, she didn’t make a sound,
already drowned.

And they said, “Can you love her, now that you've been shown
that love is not a yearning?
Love is learning to let go."

I saw where it leads, the river of my trembling heart!
Down to a field of reeds,
back to the place where the ending meets the start.
In the beautiful sun,
the bodies shrivel and souls find their release.
A field of reeds
in the morning of an everlasting peace.
Peace, peace, peace.

And when I tell you about my visions
I notice you don’t look me in the eye.
And I know why.
You run your fingers along my back
but you feel the crack in loving what has to die.
But don’t you cry.

For they told me to tell you what you already know:
That your love is forever burning
in the stillness of your learning to let go.

Look where it leads, the river of your trembling heart!
Down to a field of reeds,
back to the place where we never have to part.
In the beautiful sun,
our bodies shrivel and our souls find their release.
A field of reeds in the morning of an everlasting,
everlasting, everlasting peace.

Tam Lin