The Sound of Feathers

Mark Nepo
2 min readJun 13, 2022

I will never forget your care,

how you stared into me the way

a painter might peer into a canyon.

You saw a great vastness in me,

where I felt only a great emptiness.

You taught me how to feel

that emptiness as the

shimmer of being.

This is the quiet gift of love:

to be shown who we truly are by another

who, when you say, “I have nothing left,”

says, “But what of this magnificent sun

rising within you?”

A Question to Walk With: This is from my book of poems in progress, Unseeable Masters. Describe your experience of emptiness. How does it greet you? What does it say to you? What have you learned from it?

JUNE 24–26: Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, NY, The Deeper Teachers: Fear, Pain, and Grief, Weekend Retreat, ( web link) — IN PERSON

AUG 26–28: Mercy By the Sea, 167 Neck Rd, Madison CT, weekend workshop, Reclaiming Our Humanity: Being Fierce and Tender in Our Call to Love, Fri 7–9:30PM EST Sat 9:30–5:30PM EST, Sun 9:30–1230PM, ( web link) — IN PERSON

SEPT 16–18: Friday Night Reading and Weekend Retreat (Sat and Sun), Surviving Storms: Finding the Strength to Meet Adversity, The Sophia Institute, Charleston, SC, or call 843–720–8528, (web link) — IN PERSON

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Mark Nepo

New York Times #1 bestselling author, poet, and philosopher. Learn more: live.marknepo.com