In the time when there was only one
and longing did not exist
it happened, I don’t know how,
that one could not be one forever
and so, one became two
and with that becoming
came, too, the gift of longing—
the longing to be one
or the longing to be the other.
It is this latter longing
with which I am most familiar—
a longing that speaks of a certain lack
whose origin is no more known to me
than the origin of the grace
that now allows a sense
of unity I feel
within myself—
which feeling
does not stop time
nor reverse time’s ravages
nor take us back to the time
when there was only one,
the time before the we or the us
but does allow me to be wholly me,
within myself, wholly me, then, with you—
which being I feel, as well, to be holy—
which being I know, as well, is holy and entirely real.
– Bill Denham, December 21, 2009