The Ones Who Carry Us
Article voiceover
The poem I share today is a beautiful articulation of something I recognize afresh as I enter a new year. I look back over the path I’ve travelled, and notice that at every great turning, in every place I’ve faltered or found my way back from confusion or loss, I’ve never been alone.
Miracle Seamus Heaney Not the one who takes up his bed and walks But the ones who have known him all along And carry him in — Their shoulders numb, the ache and stoop deeplocked In their backs, the stretcher handles Slippery with sweat. And no let-up Until he’s strapped on tight, made tiltable And raised to the tiled roof, then lowered for healing. Be mindful of them as they stand and wait For the burn of the paid-out ropes to cool, Their slight lightheadedness and incredulity To pass, those ones who had known him all along. The poem references a New Testament story in which four men make an opening in the roof of a house in order to lower a paralytic friend down to Christ for healing. Heaney wrote the poem after experiencing a stroke in 2006. Friends carried him to a waiting ambulance, and Heaney notes that only when he had to be carried himself, did he realize how essential the men in that story had been to the healing of their paralytic friend. My life has been, and continues to be, filled with such friends. At the threshold of a new year, I want to acknowledge their gifts. With wishes for a beautiful start to 2025, Carri. P.S. You can find the New Testament story in Matthew 9:1–8, Mark 2:1–12, and Luke 5:17–26. Heaney speaks briefly about the poem, and reads it, in this video. (The sound quality is poor, but it's worth a listen.)