Self Portrait

. . . A picture, photograph, or piece of writing that you make of or about yourself.

And deeper . . .

Self Portrait

By David Whyte

It doesn't interest me if there is one God
or many gods.
I want to know if you belong or feel
abandoned.
If you know despair or can see it in others.
I want to know
if you are prepared to live in the world
with its harsh need
to change you. If you can look back
with firm eyes
saying this is where I stand. I want to know
if you know
how to melt into that fierce heat of living
falling toward
the center of your longing. I want to know
if you are willing
to live, day by day, with the consequence of love
and the bitter
unwanted passion of your sure defeat.

I have heard, in that fierce embrace, even
the gods speak of God.

– David Whyte
From Fire in the Earth
(Many Rivers Press, 1992)

For more of David Whyte's writings at The Wild Reed, see:
• "To Be Courageous Is to Stay Close to the Way We Are Made"

See also:
• The Prayer Tree
• Beloved and Antlered
• On This "Echoing-Day" of My Birth
• The Soul of a Dancer
• A Guidepost on the Journey
• Thomas Moore on the "Ageless Soul"
• "Window, Mind, Thought, Air and Love"
• Called to the Field of Compassion to Be Both Prophet and Mystic
• The Most Sacred and Simple Mystery of All

Image: "Self Portrait" by Michael J. Bayly (November 19, 2017).