Take Care. A poem by President of Ireland / Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D. Higgins

Take Care

In the journey to the light,
the dark moments
should not threaten.
Belief
requires
that you hold steady.
Bend, if you will,
with the wind.
The tree is your teacher,
roots at once
more firm
from experience
in the soil
made fragile.

Your gentle dew will come
and a stirring
of power
to go on
towards the space
of sharing.

In the misery of the I,
in rage,
it is easy to cry out
against all others
but to weaken
is to die
in the misery of knowing
the journey abandoned
towards the sharing
of all human hope
and cries
is the loss
of all we know
of the divine
reclaimed
for our shared
humanity.
Hold firm.
Take care.
Come home
together.

MDH

Poetry Ireland’s Poem Of The Day, Friday, 27 Mar 2020. From the President’s second collection of poems, Season Of Fire, published by Brandon Press in 1993.

………….

Michael Daniel Higgins (Irish: Mícheál Dónal Ó hUigínn; born 18 April 1941) is an Irish politician, poet, sociologist, and broadcaster, who has served as the ninth President of Ireland since November 2011. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Galway West constituency from 1981 to 1982 and 1987 to 2011.

The President’s other Covid-19 related speeches are available on Soundcloud here.