Seeing You
by David Whyte
I want you
to see
yourself
the way
I sometimes
see you.
I want you
to see
yourself
with the
self-same
eyes
that have me
shy
of telling you
what I see.
I want you
to come across
your self
and see
yourself,
the way I did
that first
morning,
as a beautiful
incredibly
kind
and inviting
stranger.
I want you
to knock
gently on
your
own door
and stand
there
astonished
as I do
unable
to speak
to the one
who has come
out to meet you.
Like Rilke’s
visiting
angel
of the
Annunciation
who forgot
his message
to Mary,
and could only
fall back
to singing
her praises,
stuttering and
everwhelmed
as he was,
by the untroubled
beauty
of her soul.
You can find this poem in the collection The Bell and The Blackbird by David Whyte.