Whales

I had the incredible opportunity to go whale watching last weekend. Humpback whales are migrating from Alaska (their feeding ground) to Hawaii (their mating ground). What an amazing experience. I found the poem below and it totally explained the silence the moment you see the tail raise above the water. Sometimes you can find the words to describe such beauty and sometimes it's best to let someone elses words fill in the space that Grace created in your heart.

First Voyage

It is a spiritual universe. And together we slipped away under a starry sky from the continents and islands we knew,to meet ourselves — in the light of a dazzling dawn.

With a deep calm upwelling beneath us, we cast our faith and love upon the waters to meet ourselves — for the first time.

In the knowledge that healing is possible,and that miracles can and do occur — we swam.

Grace washed over us with every sigh of whale-spout, heave of water, and sleek arch of humpback — in a glittering sea.

Was it because we couldn't touch the whales, that we were able to touch each other?

Or because the whales touched us so deeply, that we had the courage to reach out?

From mother to calf to me, a song of forgiveness passes from heart to heart to heart, until trust replaces fear—every time.

14 April 2001
Susan L. Grimshaw