The Labyrinth, The Emotion and Music – by Gil George.

At the centre of the labyrinth

This morning’s post is contributed by our good friend Gil George, whose pregnant wife recently had emergency surgery. It moved me to tears especially when I clicked the link and listened to Gil recite his poem with music in the background.

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This poem has been stirring in me since my wife had to have emergency surgery last week. At the hospital that my wife had her surgery in there is a labyrinth laid out in the cobblestones of their “Healing Garden” located in the courtyard between the wings of the hospital. She is recovering well, and our unborn daughter appears to be unaffected by the surgery. Still, it has been a very difficult time emotionally and it took me a little while to process enough to write.

*UPDATE*
Rich Mutua has put my poem to music. Listen at emotionandmusic.

Labyrinth

I look down at the Labyrinth

That sits in the middle of the courtyard

Of the hospital in which my wife lies

Recovering from a surgery that was successful

To see the pain in her eyes and the pale, drawn visage

Of one whose being has been woven with mine

Over the last eleven years and five months

Having no ability to do anything to assuage her pain

Seeing that there is nothing I can do but wait, I sit

I say “I love you.” as I prepare to go home and try to sleep

As I walk to the elevator I see the labyrinth again in the courtyard

In a very real way it seems to invite me to walk its cobbled path

To a center that I cannot find.

I take the first step with a sense of longing and as I walk I feel

I feel that here is something I can do

Something in which I can have some illusion of control.

I walk slowly, not wanting the illusion to end

I walk towards and away from the center as I follow

A path laid out by someone else, a path walked by others

I approach the center and look out to the West as the

Setting sun sheds its last light of the day

On me, standing in the center of a labyrinth

In the courtyard of the hospital

Searching for a center in me

Labyrinth by Gilbert George is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at extrovertedquaker.wordpress.com.
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