For a Newly Single Parent

In this new place

which you did not ask for or imagine,

where the walls of your expectation

lie in pieces around you,

may you hear the song of birds.

May that song

fill you with the hope you need

to walk away from the wreckage of regret.

May you travel lightly,

breathe alpine air,

kneel to drink sweet water,

walk through yielding fields,

sleep long under clear skies.

In the new

may you the sustenance of the familiar:

may you feel wrapped in the warmest blankets,

comforted by nurturing food,

soothed by the gentlest of hands.

May you find your eyes opened to new colors,

your ears attuned to new songs,

and your hands clasped by friends.

As you build anew,

May each brick be laid with tenderness, and strength;

may your walls be painted with the colors of joy and forgiveness.

May your home be filled with all that sustains,

and may all who enter find blessing.

May it be always a place of solace.

May every tree you plant;

spread deep, good roots 

and may generations of your loved ones gather beneath.