In Pursuit of Poetry

March 30, 2020 - Audre Lorde - A Litany for Survival

March 30
I went looking for poems about hope. I found A Litany for Survival by Audre Lorde. This one struck me. The line 'we were never meant to survive' sounds ominous, but one must remember: with our birth, our death is coming. It is inevitable because no one lives forever. The thing is one must live our lives as if death were coming... seeing it as a teacher, not a taker.

Consider how would you live your life it you knew you only had a week to live? Would you reach out to loved ones and tell them how precious they are to you? Would you follow your dreams and make a mark for yourself?

I think, in the last stanza of this poem "It is better to speak/ remembering/ we were never meant to survive", that's what she is saying.

So as we live in a world with our current pandemic, try to live your life to the fullest. Don't hide in fear. Reach out to others by text, phone call or video chat. So what you can to live in the present and not dwell on the unknown future or the past you cannot change.

This poem illuminates a concept that I read about in The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer; live your life in the present. Death teaches you that. I blogged about this earlier this month.

It is all perception my friends, how are you going to perceive this; are you going to live or hide in fear?

A Litany for Survival
BY AUDRE LORDE
For those of us who live at the shoreline
standing upon the constant edges of decision
crucial and alone
for those of us who cannot indulge
the passing dreams of choice
who love in doorways coming and going
in the hours between dawns
looking inward and outward
at once before and after
seeking a now that can breed
futures
like bread in our children’s mouths
so their dreams will not reflect
the death of ours;

For those of us
who were imprinted with fear
like a faint line in the center of our foreheads
learning to be afraid with our mother’s milk
for by this weapon
this illusion of some safety to be found
the heavy-footed hoped to silence us
For all of us
this instant and this triumph
We were never meant to survive.

And when the sun rises we are afraid
it might not remain
when the sun sets we are afraid
it might not rise in the morning
when our stomachs are full we are afraid
of indigestion
when our stomachs are empty we are afraid
we may never eat again
when we are loved we are afraid
love will vanish
when we are alone we are afraid
love will never return
and when we speak we are afraid
our words will not be heard
nor welcomed
but when we are silent
we are still afraid

So it is better to speak
remembering
we were never meant to survive.

"A Litany for Survival." Copyright © 1978 by Audre Lorde, from The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde by Audre Lorde.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/147275/a-litany-for-survival