The Spiral Library

An experimental space to hold collections of musings, inspiration, creation, questions, answers, thoughts, feelings, etc. A bit like a blog but... different and ever evolving.


Poem №086
Writing Raina Jung Writing Raina Jung

Poem №086

A swelling of saltwater
behind the eyes.

An ache
that makes no sense
under this kind of warm
sunlight.

It hurts so much.

How can you trust the light,
when you’ve survived so long
in the darkness of fear?

A thing
that cannot exist
without its counter part,
does not stay
long enough
to provide
the kind of trust
you’ll need
to feel truly safe.

But is it really the light,
the joy,
the happiness,
the good,
that asks for your trust?

Where then,
do we place our trust?
Where then,
do we find the warm embrace
of safety?

What remains beyond change?
What lasts
when the dark clouds return?

Find the light within you.

You may not feel it
or see it now,
but it is there,
carrying you from
moment to moment,
incarnation to incarnation.

Place your trust
in that light,
become intimate
with it’s unwavering,
unconditional,
inner warmth.

Let it guide you
from the inside out,
even in the darkest of times,
through saltwater tears,
heartbreaking grief,
the too good to be true
ache of sunlight
on your soft face.

This place in you
exists beyond
all duality,
it is the stardust
we came from,
the home we return to,
the only place
you’ll ever locate
true safety.

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Poem №085 – Give yourself time
Writing Raina Jung Writing Raina Jung

Poem №085 – Give yourself time

All is well, little one.

Don’t rush yourself
to change

The dissolving
requires a lot of energy

Give yourself time
Give yourself grace.

Know that what feels hard now,
the things you want
so badly to do and be,
that feel so impossible to attain,

will come with ease
when you are ready
and not before.

Give the dissolving time.

Rest your head
on the shoulder of trust,

Everything that’s right for you
will happen for you
in divine timing.

Knowing this
won’t make the journey
less uncomfortable,

grief is a close companion,
an important portal,
to any evolution.

Try not to resist
the discomfort,
do not try to bypass
what arises within you,

but let this be a glimmer,
a soft light to follow,

when the cocoon
feels especially dark,
and the dissolving
feels especially disorienting.

One day you will emerge
with wings to carry you
to all the places
you always dreamed of
and beyond.

All is well, little caterpillar.

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Poem №084 – beyond you and me
Writing Raina Jung Writing Raina Jung

Poem №084 – beyond you and me

Can you stay a while
Let yourself sink into the feeling
Watch the waves roll in
Crashing and then rippling out
A whole new pattern
Displayed across the surface of your heart

If you can pause in the presence of your being
You’ll witness the most miraculous things

The moon moves the water of the sea
Let the waves crash
So you can witness the ripples
As they go beyond you and me

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Poem №081 – Let yourself die
Writing Raina Jung Writing Raina Jung

Poem №081 – Let yourself die

Will you let yourself die,
Spiraling into the depths of the abyss,
Where your fear finally swallows you whole
And becomes you?

Do you dare to go all the way
Into the kind of darkness
That forces you to your knees
Afraid you will never return?

Will you surrender to the place inside of you
Where nothing makes sense,
Where the same stories repeat,
Like a glitch in the system of suffering?

This is the place where
“I don’t understand anything”
Turns from the greatest fear
Into the truest freedom.

This, my love, is the portal
And I’ll be waiting for you as witness
On the other side.

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Poem №079 – When you forget
Writing Raina Jung Writing Raina Jung

Poem №079 – When you forget

I remember
and forget,
remember
and forget,
remember
and forget.

Each time convinced
the present state
will last forever
only to find myself
rising and falling
with the shockingly
predictable rhythm
of the ebb and flow
of growing
healing
living
being

Am I still breathing?

I awaken
only to fall
back asleep
over and again.

It’s much less painful
to surrender
than it is to resist,
but oh how we cling
to control
as if our lives
depend on it.

Try to remember
just one thing:
‍ ‍Everything is always changing
‍ ‍and so are we.

And darling,
when you forget,
in your predictable rhythm,
try also to trust
you’ll remember again.

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Poem №078 – Maybe this is change
Writing Raina Jung Writing Raina Jung

Poem №078 – Maybe this is change

Boiling to the surface
At the edge of spilling over

I am angry
And I’m angry that I’m angry
And you're angry too
And it’s supposed to be
“The most wonderful time of the year”
But we have precious little reference for that

All we ever knew was a thin veneer
Covering a complicated darkness
A maze of unmet needs
Layered atop generational resentment

I don’t want to feel like this
I don’t want to be like this

And the little one in me
Forever fantasizing
About the happy joy magic
Still has hope
Despite all the evidence

I’m afraid
What if nothing really changes?

Or maybe this is change
The small pause
Creating space for all parts
Gentle healing
Through acknowledgement
Of what is present

No forced smiles
No fake joy
No more pretending
Resistance melts slowly

It’s okay to feel sad
It’s okay to feel grief
It’s okay to want to feel safe again

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Poem №077
Writing Raina Jung Writing Raina Jung

Poem №077

The portal

to deep connection
where you can feel
the stardust
in your bones
and know belonging
in your being

begins within

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Poem №076
Writing Raina Jung Writing Raina Jung

Poem №076

Immersing deep
within the living
being
breathing
present
self

Following
the golden thread
of desire and delight

The kind of joy
that makes children
deep belly laugh
the kind of warmth
that makes you
feel alive
and whole and
good

It’s safe to feel good
It’s good to feel good

In this place
there’s no work to be done
no five year plans to be made
no need for efforting
or control

From this place
it all just happens

Trust
surrender
whatever you’d like to call it
it’s a here and now practice

This is where
the edges dissolve
and you remember
how immense you are

The way to the universe
is though the individual
and your most efficient path
is that of presence

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Poem №075 – Resting Inward
Writing Raina Jung Writing Raina Jung

Poem №075 – Resting Inward

a lifetime spent
moving outward
reaching forward

arms poised to grasp
onto anything
anyone
close enough
to be a life raft

mother, will you hold me?

now i am standing still
arms wide open
why does it hurt so much?

resting inward
tension building
before relief

release the breath
return to body

i will hold me now.

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Poem №074 – Perspective
Writing Raina Jung Writing Raina Jung

Poem №074 – Perspective

They float up
on wings
of an ancient creature
perched on the tallest tree
silently watching
everything
and nothing
below

Then they push off
long legs
slender neck
tucked gracefully
soaring high above

My mist damp head
tipped back
in astonishment
watching from the limitations
of humanity
and gravity

Whats it like up there
where great perspective
has the power
to right size
most earthly problems
and everything can shift
in a single instant
of flight?

From my earth perch
I tip my head down
to see
a mossy universe
below me

Suddenly reminded
I too
can shift perspective.

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Poem №073
Writing Raina Jung Writing Raina Jung

Poem №073

the sunrise
layer upon layer
hearth thawing
beauty
inviting tears

i lose my way
from this
and return
through the portal
of deep
aching
feeling

i miss you
like part of me
is missing
and in the same
breath
i am also
afraid
of you

no one taught me
and/both
and i fear the one
will swallow me whole
but the ache
is the invitation to
everything else

and my world
is more beautiful
through a kaleidoscope
of tears

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Poem №051
Writing Raina Jung Writing Raina Jung

Poem №051

What is a poem?
Sometimes a prayer,
A spell cast into the universe,
Or a message in a bottle
Dropped into an infinite sea

Words strung together
We build little boats
Hoping they’ll transport us

Sometimes just a list
Made up of truths
Or grief
Or wishes

Little by little
Line by line
Opening the heart
Refocusing our attention

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Poem №050
Writing Raina Jung Writing Raina Jung

Poem №050

How much easier
It would have been
To give up
A thousand times over

To choose the warn path
Walking in the footsteps
Of generations of avoidance
Toward a slow death
Into a pit of darkness and suffering

But we couldn’t bear it
We imagined another way
And found the support we needed
To do the painful work
Of stepping directly
Into the discomfort

Through the portals of grief
We moved toward
An unsettlingly
Unfamiliar freedom

Into the embrace
Of loving ourselves
We made it possible
To truly love one another
Wide open and honest

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Poem №049
Writing Raina Jung Writing Raina Jung

Poem №049

There is nothing left to say

I’m no longer willing
To betray myself for your comfort

I’m moving toward truth
While you remain blinded by fear

One day, I hope you’ll join me here
But know this: I won’t be coming back your way

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Poem №048
Writing Raina Jung Writing Raina Jung

Poem №048

It was our fairy tail
Floating on the saltwater sea
Holding hands
Seaweed tickling our toes
Cradled by the waves
The sun setting in the bright blue sky
We watched the golden light
Touch the moss drenched cypress trees
A coyote dashed across the sand
We were wide eyed in awe
Beauty in every little detail

This is our fairy tail
Oh how I love you
Oh how I love this love

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“You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.”


Eckhart Tolle

Finding Stillness
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