“When you look back on a lifetime and think of what has been given to the world by your presence, your fugitive presence, inevitably you think of your art, whatever it may be, as the gift you have made to the world in acknowledgment of the gift you have been given, which is the life itself… That work is not an expression of the desire for praise or recognition, or prizes, but the deepest manifestation of your gratitiude for the gift of life.”
– Stanley Kunitz
Exactly what I need to kick start my writing this morning. Thank you! And happy weekend.
xo
I have this starred and underlined in The Wild Braid (love that beautiful book). Everytime I read it I get that electric current through my body, head nodding, YES YES YES. THIS is what creating is about. I want in on THAT, creating out of gratitude. How lovely to find that you, too, carry these words. Love it!!
You and I are on the same quote-wavelength for sure! I am feeling these days that my real art is not what I do at my desk, but what I put on the dinner table, how I listen, the way I notice, the words I speak. So humble, not much, but it’s what I have to offer.