15/05/2026
UPSIDE OF PARTNERSHIP
The world is full of many wonderful things
Awaiting our maturity for their discovery
Existence is a marvel beyond comprehension
Gently prodding us to wakeful gnosis
Relationship is a disappointment or uneasy detente
For those without conviction or good role models
For the weak-willed and the blamers
For those who do not know themselves with love
It's something for the courageous to grow into,
And even grow out of whilst staying put
Finding our simple comforts met
In compassionate companionship,
In playfulness and harmony,
Knowing that heavenly relationship
Begins and ends within,
Conscious relating
Provides a steadiness of local aspects,
The non-chaos of daily life,
A solid base for our creativity,
This is where life gets really interesting
New depths can be shared
Through the levers of radical honesty
Our humanness is seen
From a clearer and kinder place,
Allowing deep diving into Self
A familiar shore to let go of,
Each and every day
Commitment to intimacy with self
Is indistinguishable from conscious relating
Undefending from what's arising
Being witnessed transparently,
In our faltering and in our courage
Being held by or holding space for
Another in the space of suffering,
In vulnerability and despair,
Apprehending each others’
Random desires and impulses
Radically accepting what they are,
Unjudgingly supportive
Without acting out destructively
As time passes,
A grander Desire is cultivated
Weaving naturally balanced sharing
With sustaining the birthing of soul in life
Committed relationship serves as an inescapable mirror,
Getting us real with ourselves,
Someone to tell tenderly, everything to,
Sharing even shameful truths
Of course and always
We must each make marriage
With the truth residing in our hearts,
In our uniquely innocent ways
We don't need a church,
Nor any public declaration for this,
We can be re-wed each day
To the great spirit that is life
A ceremony performed in silence
With breath as witness,
Both the. world arising
And your spirit before the world
As your beloveds
When two people get on well,
Why not continue this together?
You'll have a soft place to fall
Because, of course, you'll fall often
Kieran Patrick Riordan (2012)
(edit 2026)
Photo from 60's comedy 'Get Smart'
www.kieranriordan.com
