LESLIE BLAIR went from seeing death as a tragic endpoint to valuing the ongoing relationship with a loved one and the ongoing journey of the soul. She shares that journey with us here.
For a long time after my mother passed away, I continued to struggle with difficult emotions surrounding her loss. I wrote to my spiritual teacher, Chariji, whose reply gave me a path forward at what seemed like a dead end. He wrote, in part: “Now you must pray for the peace of her soul. In this will be your true service to her.”
I was struck by the thought that I could actually be of service to someone dear who was no longer alive on this Earth. I had no idea how to pray for the peace of a soul, but Chariji had given me a task—both challenging and promising—something useful and positive to focus on and incorporate in my daily meditation practice. It was the start of a journey in prayer that would, over time, come to include the remembrance of other loved ones.
At some point along the way, my feelings of bereavement and bewilderment began to take the shape of a song. Searching for the right words became a seemingly endless process, one that defied completion, but it has yielded a growing assurance that love is stronger than death, and that our connection with those who have moved on continues to grow—no doubt in a different way and perhaps in a different realm, one that awaits us with open arms.
The song was written in the first person, but I’ve always wanted it to ring true for others as well. May it resonate with your own songs of comfort, connection, and healing.
Wherever We Are
I will reach for you, I’ll remember you,
and I know I’ll find your touch everywhere.
There’s a part of you in everything I do,
but the smile I knew no longer waits there.
They say there’s a road to where you are—
it’s not on the map, but it can’t be too far.
If you’ve gone to stay, there must be a way
to where you are.
In a hidden world, hard to see or touch,
another life is calling you home.
So I send a prayer to see you safely there
as your soul returns to its own.
They say there’s a guide where you are,
to show you the way like your own shining star.
There must be a friend, true to the end,
where you are.
We reach for a hand, gentle and strong,
to comfort and mend us and shepherd us along
a well-traveled path crossing the night,
where storms of the heart make way for redeeming light.
When a sudden shower washes the earth and sky
and a brighter world shimmers through,
heaven reaches down, hovering all around,
and I know its promise is true:
Love is the way to where you are—
it comes like the rainbow, spanning far,
out of thin air, connecting us,
wherever we are.
A shower of light, a rainbow of tears,
will shine through the night to quiet our fears.
The love that we share embraces us
wherever we are.
Our love is a prayer, blessing us
wherever we are.
Leslie Blair
Leslie is a Heartfulness practitioner and trainer living in the US. A retired editor, she knows that words—as hard as she may try to find the right ones—are inadequate to express our most treasured experiences and connections. But she ke... Read More
