For the Interim Time by John O’Donohue

Below is the poem that Grace+ referenced during her sermon on July 17, 2022.

"For the Interim Time" by John O'Donohue

When near the end of day, life has drained

Out of light, and it is too soon 

For the mind of night to have darkened things, 

No place looks like itself, loss of outline

Makes everything look strangely in-between, 

Unsure of what has been, or what might come. 

In this wan light, even trees seem groundless. 

In a while it will be night, but nothing

Here seems TO believe the relief of dark. 

You are in this time of the interim

Where everything seems withheld. 

The path you took to get here has washed out;

The way forward is still concealed from you. 

“The old is not old enough to have died away; 

The new is still too young to be born.”

You cannot lay claim to anything; 

In this place of dusk, 

Your eyes are blurred;

And there is no mirror. 

Everyone else has lost sight of your heart

And you can see nowhere to put your trust;

You know you have to make your own way through. 

As far as you can, hold your confidence. 

Do not allow your confusion to squander

This call which is loosening 

Your roots in false ground, 

That you might come free

From all you have outgrown. 

What is being transfigured here is your mind, 

And it is difficult and slow to become new. 

The more faithfully you can endure here, 

The more refined your heart will become 

For your arrival in the new dawn.