A love letter to my community. This opening meditation was read live at Heartsong: A Galentine’s Soul Sing on February 13, 2024.

Heartsong

By audrey voon

There are moments that make my heart sing,
moments that make my soul soar―
A tender word from a friend.
My child’s laughter.
A full-bodied gaze of yearning from my lover.
The sun at any given moment...
There is a song for each of these.
I hear it in my mind’s ear,
I feel it at the edges of my skin
And at the very center of mySelf.
Each moment is a note, held in time,
Released, inevitably, into the ether.

Would that I could capture the melody and write it down,
sing its lyrical message over and over
so that it somehow lasts forever,
even after I’m gone.
The song that is me,
that beats through my veins,
that breathes me.

Is this why I sing?

Each phrase carries me one measure closer.
And then the song is complete.
How bittersweet that I will only know my song in its entirety
upon that great resolution.
Drawing my last breath, I shall say to myself,
“Ah. That’s how it goes.”

And so tonight I sing for you―
I sing WITH you―
so that I might not forget to enjoy the simple act of singing.
I need not distract myself
with where the song is going
or how it ends.
I only need to give myself permission
to feel the breath, the resonance,
the bliss as our voices meet and meander
and make something new and beautiful.

For this, this right here―
you and me and this moment―
this is my Heartsong.