The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.'
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore -
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Nameless here for evermore...
In some Native American cultures, the raven is a symbol of transformation and metamorphosis. It's a harbinger of the cosmos and a creature of healing. Although this was not the message in church today, it's the portion that remained with me as I left. It's fitting to think of the raven as our days are filled with more darkness than light. Poe alludes to this in the first two stanzas of his poem, The Raven. Even Poe knows that the darkness of December can be bleak. During these days of darkness, I am going to remember the transformation that will take place and consider it, indeed, a time of healing.
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I slept much of my weekend away and felt kind of guilty about it, but part of me knew I had to do that too. I'm going to embrace the winter nap as essential.