Good morning…
Beneath tonight’s full moon, I revisit an article sent by a friend at the start of 2026, an article entitled “Questions Before Dark.” For the rest of this week, we will unpack these poignant questions, questions which point us toward who we really are. We will begin today with the writing in its entirety, then we will pull it apart, taking space to reflect, day by day, as July quietly tips into August.
*******
Questions Before Dark by Jeanne Lohmann
Day ends, and before sleep when the sky dies down, consider your altered state: has this day changed you? Are the corners sharper or rounded off?
Did you live with death? Make decisions that quieted? Find one clear word that fit?
At the sun’s midpoint did you notice a pitch of absence, bewilderment that invites the possible?
What did you learn from things you dropped and picked up and dropped again?
Did you set a straw parallel to the river, let the flow carry you downstream?
I do appreciate poems that ask questions, especially ones that cannot be answered simply but remain in my mind to challenge me, to inform my days, and especially now at the beginning of a new year (now a new month, a new season). I hope you may find a question or two here that is meaningful to you, learning, as Rilke says, ‘to love the questions‘.
******
For the rest of the week, we will meander our way through these lively questions.
Thursday: At the groggy end of the day, how has this day changed you? Are the corners sharper or rounded off? Sharper or rounder, how does that feel?
Friday: Did you live with death? What decisions have quieted you? Which one clear word fits you today?
Saturday: How might you describe an absence, a sense of bewilderment that invites the possible? What are you learning from things you dropped and picked up and dropped again? In what ways are you living like a piece of straw set parallel on a river, letting the flow carry you downstream?
I call to mind my music; it keeps me company at night. Together with my heart I contemplate; my spirit searches, wondering, questioning (Psalm 77:6, VOICE).
As we love the questions this week – searching, wondering, questioning – might we live into our own authentic answers?
…Sue…
