The Remaining 51 Weeks

After spending an amazing week with friends at an artsist's conference, we all went home to our respective countries. The following week, this poem came out. It has since been turned into a song by the amazing Finnish singer, Jukka Leppilampi

A dim reflection of paradise

Is what we have left behind

I have been fed bread for my soul

And I rehearse every morsel in my mind

And you, dear friends, have been

A bridge of life, of exquisite complex thoughts

Of love and of healing

From the One who is the source

A piece of me is missing

As you each return to your own land

Inside I grieve, quietly

Onlookers wouldn't understand

This connection of my soul

As if to long lost members of a family

And though we meet so rarely

You are now part of my life-tapestry

I will think of each of you now and then

Picture you living your ordinary days

Creating, loving, struggling, praying

Continuing the great dance in your own unique ways

We have tasted the fruits of many journeys

Of each other's gifts, thoughts, brokeness and pain

We will not drink the wine of these fruits

Until we meet again

So for the long days ahead

Please keep me in your heart

Let the bonds of Spirit and of Blood

Stay strong though we are apart

And we can revel in the knowing

Of this bitter-sweet pain

That you have to say goodbye

In order to meet again.

Concetta Perot

23rd August 1999