Literature

The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.

“As an artist, she is totally and utterly informed by writers like Arthur Rimbaud, Allen Ginsberg, Albert Camus and countless others who inspired a young Smith to leave her hometown and seek out a poetic lifestyle. Whether she’s referencing her seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of classic works, drawing links to the beat generation she caught the tail end of, or even reworking her own poetry into song, almost every Patti Smith song has a connection to literature somewhere. “

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,

Where your thoughts never think to wander,

This beginning has been quietly forming,

Waiting until you were ready to emerge. 

For a long time it has watched your desire,

Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,

Noticing how you willed yourself on,

Still unable to leave what you had outgrown. 

It watched you play with the seduction of safety

And the gray promises that sameness whispered,

Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,

Wondered would you always live like this. 

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,

And out you stepped onto new ground,

Your eyes young again with energy and dream,

A path of plenitude opening before you. 

Though your destination is not yet clear

You can trust the promise of this opening;

Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning

That is at one with your life’s desire. 

Awaken your spirit to adventure;

Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;

Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,

For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

— For a new beginning, John O’Donohue