Lisa Ray Instagram – Posted @withregram • @embodiedphilosophy That time⁣ I thought I could not⁣ go any closer to grief⁣ without dying⁣ ⁣ I went closer,⁣ and I did not die.⁣ Surely God⁣ had his hand in this,⁣ ⁣ as well as friends.⁣ Still, I was bent,⁣ and my laughter,⁣ as the poet said,⁣ ⁣ was nowhere to be found.⁣ Then said my friend Daniel,⁣ (brave even among lions),⁣ “It’s not the weight you carry⁣ ⁣ but how you carry it –⁣ books, bricks, grief –⁣ it’s all in the way⁣ you embrace it, balance it, carry it⁣ ⁣ when you cannot, and would not,⁣ put it down.”⁣ So I went practicing.⁣ Have you noticed?⁣ ⁣ Have you heard⁣ the laughter⁣ that comes, now and again,⁣ out of my startled mouth?⁣ ⁣ How I linger⁣ to admire, admire, admire⁣ the things of this world⁣ that are kind, and maybe⁣ ⁣ also troubled –⁣ roses in the wind,⁣ the sea geese on the steep waves,⁣ a love⁣ to which there is no reply?⁣ ⁣ — “Heavy” by Mary Oliver⁣ Image: detail from Henry Darger