Turn Your Face to the Sun

Turn Your Face To The Sun
by Maithri Goonetilleke

Beloved,

...There are days when nothing seems right.
When every shell you pick up on the winding shore is broken.
When the silken treasure slips through your fingers too quickly.
When comforts are empty. And the world is noise.

On those jagged edged days,
when the wind is screaming
for a reason only she understands.
And you find yourself all alone.

Turn your face to the sun.

There is goodness in the world,
that even the river of tears cannot erase.
There is love in the world,
that the numbed armies of fear can not destroy.

Sometimes that goodness is everywhere apparent.
It pours from the heart of every moment.
From the light of every smile.
On those soft days,

love hides in the eaves to drop
like sweet honey on your forehead
and sings her lilting lullabies
in the arms of the winds.

But on some days, Beloved.
On days like today....
We need to look,
To see.

So turn your face to the sun.

Even when she is nowhere to be seen.
Go inside yourself. Find a speck, a splinter of beauty to be grateful for.
'Yes', the day has worn you.
And 'Yes' our mistakes have been so many.

But say 'Thank you' anyway.

Take account of all that is in your possession.
A mind. A heart. A body.
A life that breathes,
even if for just one more day.

Now count the eyes that have smiled at you on your wild journey,
the hands that have held you tenderly,
the ears that have listened,
the prayers that have been made on your behalf.

And whisper your 'Thank you' again.

Count the sky that has watched you grow with His painted eyes,
The heaving waves that find their echo in the tides of your breathing,
The little birds that have sung you their songs,
The stars which have been a lamp to your path,and are your rightful inheritance.

Count unexpected laughter,
Count undeserved grace,
Count Passion and Love making
and Dreams yet to be born,

And bow your head and say 'thank you',

Now count the lives who still need your light,
The hungry, the sick, the helpless,
Count the children who will die today
and imagine if with the breath of your body you could help just one.

Turn your face to the sun,

And know yourself as a child of the light.
You are the Goodness that cannot be extinguished,
The love that burns through the darkest night.
And perhaps, In turning You will see what i have seen,

That this day where everything seemed wrong,
was not your curse,
It was your gift,
Your chance...

To find inside yourself a forgotten 'thank you',

To smile in the face of the grim suppressors,
To stand in the heart of the glowering darkness

And turn your face to the sun