-- Seams in a Life --

John Herlihy

An element of perfection

Lies in the seamless garment of the soul.

Because of our imperfection,

We make efforts to sew together the whole.

The kinds of cloth may vary,

The freshest of cotton or the silkiness of silk.

Some cloth makes people wary,

An old burlap potato sack, the harshness of winter wool.

There is a seam called justice,

Stitched within men and women as intricate seam.

Without it, so little perfection,

Wherein our actions turn evil from what they mean.

There is a seam called integrity,

That provides a higher vision of life that can inspire.

We feel its visionary mystery,

That turns everything we know into a flaming fire.

There is a seam called generosity,

That allows us to freely give some of our provisions away.

A fundamental vein of charity,

The most beautiful gift when we give ourselves away.

There is a seam called tolerance,

When we accept things in life we need to endure.

A useful exercise in forbearance,

That cleanses the plate of soul to make it pure.

There is a seam called fortitude,

That interweaves all the courage we need to bear.

To free us of all servitude,

When at every step of the way ready to dare.

There is a seam called wisdom,

To become the outward expression of all we know.

Threads of light in our kingdom,

To become the warp and the woof of all we sow.

There is a seam called love,

Stitched within men and woman as intimate seam.

The emotion has wings of a dove,

To tie two people together as one seamless dream.

Our pieces of cloth come together,

In our lives, as a tapestry of magical wonder to behold.

A kind of cloak to meet all weather,

Our destiny as a cloth of pure silk in our hands to hold.

In the end, we are but tapestries of a complicated life,

Interwoven by the good and evil arisen in a life of strife.

At the meeting point of shadow and light, a spark of perfection,

Drawn from a higher source, in the mirror of Divine Reflection.

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(c) John Herlihy 12 November 2019