Reconciliation: Walt Whitman

Word over all, beautiful as the sky!
Beautiful that war, and all its deeds of carnage, must in time be
utterly lost;
That the hands of the sisters Death and Night, incessantly
softly wash again, and ever again, this soil'd world,
For my enemy is dead--a man divine as myself is dead;
I look where he lies, white-faced and still, in the coffin--I draw
near;
I bend down, and touch lightly with my lips the white face in the
coffin.

I flipped through my poetry book this morning trying to find a poem that felt 'right' to read today. It was very early, I'm home sick with a cough, and I wanted something gentle. I'm not sure this is gentle, but something about it struck me as beautiful.

It's a war poem, and I never quite got into Whitman's war poetry, although I know it's very powerful and meaningful.

Again I think I like the imagery, and I like the idea that Night and Death wash the face of the earth (and our souls) clean, over and over.

I like the idea that all deeds and events, no matter how horrible or scary or shameful, are eventually washed away (although hopefully the lessons are not). Maybe it's a poem about forgiveness. After all, the title is 'Reconciliation'.

A man divine as myself is dead. Shea asked me yesterday about loving one's self, taking care of yourself as much as you take care of somebody that you love. I guess this makes me think about laying our internal enemies (who are really ourselves), to rest. One that I am ready to lay to rest is the mean one who beats me up about my body, my creativity, my lack of 'success'. This is an enemy I'm ready to put in the coffin. Respectfully; she was only mean because she didn't know how to speak with love. She thought she was being motivating.

Reconciliation. Beautiful as the sky.