Poetry Alchemy Infusions - I Will Not Die An Unlived Life

(video transcript)

Hello and welcome to Poetry Alchemy Infusions, infusing you with the magic of poetry alchemy to ignite the visionary within, and to support you to bring those visions into visibility in the world.

Hi, I’m Rionach Aiken, visibility mentor and founder of Poetry Alchemy. You can connect with me online at my website RionachAiken.com, or connect with me wherever you find, where you’re listening to this right now.

The poem I want to share with you today is one that’s a big inspiration for me and has been since I first came across it. It’s called 'I Will Not Die an Unlived Life' and it’s written by Dawna Markova. It’s from her book I Will Not Die an Unlived Life. I’ll share the poem and then I’ll speak some more about it.

I Will Not Die an Unlived Life

 

I will not die an unlived life.

I will not live in fear

of falling or catching fire.

I choose to inhabit my days,

to allow my living to open me,

to make me less afraid,

more accessible,

to loosen my heart

until it becomes a wing,

a torch, a promise.

I choose to risk my significance,

to live so that which came to me as seed

goes to the next as blossom,

and that which came to me as blossom,

goes on as fruit.

 

Dawna Markova

from I Will Not Die An Unlived Life: reclaiming purpose and passion, by Dawna Markova (Conari Press, 2000)

In her book Dawna says: "I wrote this poem the night my father died. His heart was hollow and vacant of dreams. He was convinced he didn’t matter." And for me this poem is an essential poem for so many people, to remind us that, actually, our voices do matter. And the dreams that we carry inside of us, inside of our hearts, they do make a difference.

We all have seeds that we can turn into blossoms, and blossoms that we can turn into fruit. And when we do that, when we access that potential that lies inside us and bring that to fruition – it’s a wonderful word ‘fruition’ – and bring that into visibility and into the world, we make the world a better place. And not only that, we feel a sense of fulfilment from doing that that we wouldn’t do had we not stepped forward.

Dawna Markova wrote this for her father, but I particularly want to speak this poem to and for the generations of women who did not have the choices that we have today, whose choices were really limited in how they could show up and give their gifts.

I want to remind all of you that your voices do matter. That the dreams that you have in your heart can come to fruition. So trust them and follow them. We’re living in a time of great opportunity, but we have thousands of years of history where this has not been an easy thing to do. And the first thing we need to do is overcome that.

So I’m here to support you if you would like to get clarity on your visions, on your dreams, on how you can get support to bring those into visibility, and show up – to loosen your heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise.

Get in touch with me at my website and book a clarity session. I’d love to have a chat with you about your dreams, about your vision for what you would love to pass on to the next generation as fruit.