Utne Reader Project June 98

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1998

Answers

Beth Cramer's response to the Utne Reader article "A Path with Heart"

Many of the articles have pulled my thoughts in so many directions. My responses would not be clear, because I am not quite sure exactly how to express my reaction. The first article that grabbed my attention and one that I feel confident in responding to, is "A Path with Heart". I love poetry and it achieved its purpose; it pulled me in to read further. Last Night, As I Was Sleeping

Last night as I was sleeping, I dreamt-marvelous error!- that a spring was breaking out in my heart. I said: Along which secret aqueduct, Oh water, are you coming to me, water of a new life that I have never drunk?

Last night as I was sleeping, I dreamt-marvelous error!- that I had a beehive here inside my heart. And the golden bees were making white combs and sweet honey from my old failures. Last night, as I was sleeping, I dreamt-marvelous error!- that a fiery sun was giving light inside my heart. It was fiery because I felt warmth as from a hearth, and the sun because it gave light and brought tears to my eyes.

Last night, as I was sleeping, I dreamt-marvelous error!- that it was God I had here inside my heart. Antonio Machado

Eric Utne uses this poem to express his return from his family called work to his real family at home. He suggests in his article " A Path with Heart" that one needs to follow their heart. My heart was at home for 10 years with my children. I put my career on hold and found jobs that would keep me at home with my three children. Often my heart would say that this was the place I needed to be. I felt the pull, the dream-marvelous error!- of teaching that I so longed for. As my youngest entered first grade, I began to substitute teach. I felt the fiery warmth that Antonio expresses in his poem. Eric Utne and I have the same idea but our Paths are crossing in different directions. He expresses the need for balance of home and work. I struggle for that balance because both, family and work, pull at my heart and most often they are on seperate paths.

-- Anonymous, November 18, 1998