If you are in need of righteous fire

High upon the palm I will be / first witness to the Sun.

Photograph by Nadia Gerassimenko

Dear hopeful reader,  

As autumn has shifted to winter, do you feel the chilling in your bones, almost like verglas? Are there words unspoken screaming silent for some escape? Maybe there are invisible walls between the ones you love, fingertips almost interlacing in understanding, pride pulling you and them away.

You may feel so much—too much—in the season of suspension and sorrowing, or nothing at all. And you’re weary and wary, your heart full of swallowing darkness. Just a sliver of something bright would chase away the shadows and light up more.

I have no words of comfort, yet I have been there. Time and again, and again I will be. That is the nature of our human rhyme, rhythm, and reason. But, I think about the phoenix, a bird unseen whose wingspread is far and wide.

How can one never witness it but still know of its pluck and flame? How it rises, and always will. Maybe that is all we need to do for today—think about the phoenix rising. And feel ourselves thawing from its righteous fire.

Phoenix rising

Today what makes the dusk of your mind deceives you, but not for always. Tomorrow you will rise again, a head full of wishes. Remember of the bird as fiery as the sun. Remember of your value, uniquely you, only you. Remember you are loved, oh so loved, no inner chatter can shatter that.

Yours hopefully,

Nadia

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