Today I have been musing on sleeping and awakening. Yesterday (May 16) was Adrienne Rich’s birthday and I came across this quote by her:
It is exhilarating to be alive in a time of awakening consciousness. It can also be confusing, disorienting, and painful.
I pondered that quote–do we live in a time of awakening consciousness? It certainly can be confusing, disorienting, and painful. I suppose it could apply to an individual or some larger part of the world.
I also thought about this quote as I was rubbing children’s feet this afternoon, helping them fall asleep at nap-time. As I rubbed four pairs of little feet (2 pairs at a time) and felt the children relax, listened to their deepening breathing, looked at their sleeping angel faces, I thought about sleeping and awakening.
Today is Poetry Friday
And I don’t feel very awake. I had one of those autoimmune things earlier this week and feel much better, but still am pretty pooped. Plus I’ve been teaching and indexing. Plus I was out in the cold rain for a couple of hours this afternoon while the children played. Most of us weren’t dressed warmly enough.
But still, it’s Poetry Friday–and I love Poetry Friday! And special thanks to our host for this week, Margaret at Reflections on the Teche. She shares some lovely pi-ku (based on the number “pi”) from some of her students. You can see what other poets have to share at her blog, as well.
But back to feet and sleeping and awakening…
As I rubbed those feet, felt them grow warm, I thought about how different everyone’s feet are in their sameness. And I thought about the trust that it takes to fall asleep. Every child falls asleep differently (I suppose we all do). Some toss and turn and then suddenly fall asleep, others drift peacefully away. Last week, one little girl kept sitting up and saying “Wake up!” over and over until she asked me to cover her and immediately fell asleep. A couple of the little ones talk until they fall asleep.
I also considered how pleasant it is to fall asleep to someone’s loving touch–even better if there’s a lullaby, too, but the lullabies were done by the time everyone drifted off. Can you sleep if you feel disoriented or in pain? Sometimes sleep is a relief from those things.
Thus I mused as I sat in the dark room, listened to the rain falling, and enjoyed the relaxed quiet. I also thought about how we can’t make someone fall asleep, although we can create an environment that helps. And while we can wake someone up (not my favorite thing to do, though!), we can’t really cause someone to awaken.
I’m not sure how that leads to Adrienne Rich’s poem–A Ball is for Throwing, but it is what comes next here.
A Ball is for Throwing by Adrienne Rich
I really like this poem–I hope you enjoy it!
And if you’re in the mood for something springy–here’s a post I did (with a video) of a puppet story for spring/summer
And thanks for stopping by.
xoxo
A found poem in your post:
Rubbing children’s feet
helping them fall asleep,
deepening breathing,
sleeping angel faces.
I don’t feel awake,
so I rubbed those feet
trusting sleep.
Wow, that’s awesome! Thanks for finding a poem when I was too tired to write one.
What a cool found poem Margaret made from your post! Nice ending.
Thanks for bringing your awakening consciousness to Poetry Friday!
Thanks, Tabatha–it is a really cool poem. Just goes to show that there’s poetry everywhere for those who are open and observant.
There is magic in that poem and magic in a ball. My granddaughter’s favorite toy is a ball. Any ball will do! And when she gets the opportunity to pick out a new toy at the store, it’s almost always a ball 🙂
I read in my Waldorf studies that to the young child everything is an archetype, so a ball could represent the world–or wholeness. Thanks for sharing about your granddaughter.