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Virtual Chorus post 30

6/27/2020

Diantha had shoulder surgery yesterday, and she sang the wonderful song below to her medical team!

"I wrote this song a few years ago during back treatment episodes at UNC. When I sang it yesterday to three medical people in my recovery room, one of them--a young man and I don’t remember what his role was--leaned down and grabbed both of my hands together within his and pumped them up and down grinning under his mask. I felt his respect coming through. It was very sweet.
Then they left."

Retrolisthesis
© Diantha Rau

Retrolisthesis, scoliosis
A little arthritis and stenosis
I got a whole lot goin' on
But all it can do is slow me down
Slow is good, I'm just fine
I do what I can and leave the rest behind
What more can anyone do?
I've got limits, how about you?

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Virtual Chorus post 29

6/26/2020

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Diantha wrote this beautiful
piece recently from the prompt:
"I take myself to a place where..."
Thanks for sharing this with us Diantha!

"I take myself to a place where everything I remember is enfolded in soft cloth and petals of fondness, a place where no harshness of word or deed has scratched at the bone of me, nor demanded of me something I need not give. I dwell in a place where even pain has a place within the fold. There is no other way really, but to flow with the river of all sorrow and all joy, letting even hard memories soften themselves in the cotton embrace of compassion and humility. What am I but a speck of life in the vast ocean of existence? Why not open my heart, letting things in and out as they must do, all the while nurturing myself with a soft acceptance that passes all understanding.

I dwell in a place where daily activities are the holy grail, so grateful am I for Ann, for our life here, for the trees and for this body which, after all, still moves and shakes, walks its mile every day and finds music through the voice and hands.

This is the thing; I have the will and the power to be comfortable in my skin and at peace with what life gives me, and does not give me; what life becomes when I calm my expectations and do what needs to be done… for Ann, for our house, for necessary tasks and for the people I am fortunate to have in my life. My spirit calls on three sanghas here, and I can give back.

Yes, simple really. All things can be a choice. Reaction, purpose, internal process. I am lucky to be old. Memories can easily become teachers and all present things speak to a short enough future that choices become simpler every day. I choose peace.

I take myself to a place where I feel at home no matter what." Diantha Rau

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Virtual Chorus post 30

Virtual Chorus post 29

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