A Poem About Moving

20/10/2004 by Rosemary Beavis

 

Moving is a death experience.
Old props, old friends, old ways of doing things
are gone and the barrenness is overpowering.
It is like a seed falling into the dark earth.
it lies there covered and one doubts
if resurrection will occur.
It is like death.
Instructions come with seedlings to be transplanted.
The directions are detailed, specific-
‘water well, separate roots of seedlings carefully,
place in the prepared ground
and water every day
to minimize shock.
There are no instructions for us,
As we attempt to relocate ourselves.
We manage as best we can, yet our best is often
frighteningly inadequate.  We do not realise
that moving, like death, produces grief.
We are in shock, not understanding
our pain.
Maybe moving is scary,
because we have covered ourselves
and our inadequacies with the soil of familiarity.
We are no longer aware of them, that is
until we are uprooted.  Then they come
flooding back to haunt us.  Fears and phobias
like unwelcome guests
fill the vacuum.
Yet like plants we can’t help growing.
We take tentative steps to accommodate the change.
Tentative offers of friendship are made,
which begin the process of establishing our new
root systems, establishing ourselves
in our new location.
As spring follows winter, so
out of the devastation of a move can come hope.
No longer bound by known ways, there is space
to discover our hopes and dreams, longings and yearnings
and gifts previously unexplored.
Then out of barrenness and
confusion of change, new growth slowly
but surely does occur.
© Copyright, Rosemary Beavis 1991/2004
Reproduced here with her permission

Rosemary Beavis was born in the county of Sussex in England.
It was there she trained as a nurse before travelling to
Australia where she met and married her husband, a doctor.
For fourteen years, they worked in Papua New Guinea
before returning to Australia in 1986 with their two children.

This piece was first produced in 1991…..
five years after her repatriation to Australia.

Rosemary is a published author,
most well known for her ‘seed thoughts’
from nature and reflective pieces.

She is also a member of
The Society of Women Writers Victoria Inc

 

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