To All the Ones I've Loved Before

(This is not a tribute to Willie Nelson, although I did enjoy the outdoor concert several years back. He's a consummate performer, deep into his 70s and going strong.)

Rather, it is an open letter to the Ones I've ever had the fortune
of serendipitously meeting
only then to fall in love with,
fall out of love with,
never to speak again
or ever after friends,
fields will go fallow and after a frozen winter and a muddy spring,
crocuses would bloom again that I could see THEM for all their beauty and oh the blessings!

And then it comes to me: "I have yet to mortally die because of a broken heart. What a thing to celebrate!"

"I have yet to die because of a broken expectation set by me? What a sweet and glorious revelation."

"Will I ever be able to love again in the same crooked way?"

I suspect not.

I may go to a fallow place a while
I will surrender my body to the earth again
Oh Gaia that my tears can nourish seeds in the soil
That I might cocoon awhile
Wrap myself in self-generated silk
Sleep awhile
That I might emerge for yet another season

A butterfly with a simple mission.

If you know how to love...

If you love, you will know that everything
begins and everything ends,
and there is a time for beginning
and there is a time for ending,
and there is no wound in it.

One is not wounded, one simply knows the season is over.
One is not in despair, one simply understands and one thanks the other:

"You gave me so many beautiful gifts. You gave me new visions of life, you opened a few windows I might never have opnede on my own.
Now the time has come that we separate and our ways part."

Not in anger, not in rage, not with a grudge,
not with any complaint,
but with tremendous gratitute,
with great love,
with thankfulness of heart.

If you know how to love,
you will know how to separate.

Osho