With Great Love.

A poem, a film and a keepsake.

I’ve long been an ardent admirer of keepsakes—keepsakes with a story to tell.

Those who know me well know that I am always searching for the story—whether stitched into a garment, shaped into a shoe, or, in this case, pressed in gold.

My nomadism has gifted me what I know to be treasure over the years, pieces that hold a history, a story, a land, a moment in time. Treasures found upon cobblestone pathways, unearthed at flea markets, pressed into being by the hands of makers or stumbled upon in “fill a bag for $5.00” thrift stores. Pieces that do not simply belong to the moment of their finding, but become part of the story that is up ahead too.

The more worn a piece becomes, the more I adore it— the way it holds the imperfect marks of time. There is something home-like about the way jewellery holds these imprints, these dents and scratches—reminders of wear, of touch, of memory—of great love…

…and it is for the love of story, that this poetic co-creation found me…

When the beautiful maker and founder Tania Gnecchi-Ruscone of RUUSK reached out and asked if I might write her a poetic piece for her heart-shaped heirloom, stamped and named as a collection “With Great Love”, I impulsively said yes!

I have learnt sharply to decipher my own “yes” / “no” radar over the years, and some “Yes’s” are visceral before I even have the wisdom to see if time would allow me to execute what I am being invited into.

I’ve learned that honouring these impulses often carve their own path, regardless of what time or circumstance suggests. The work unfolds as it must, even if it requires the occasional late night to find the language.

This was an all in “Yes!”… and so I took to the pen and wrote this heart-shaped heirloom into into a poem.

Born from the quiet beginnings of Tania’s sketches, this heart was created to be worn close—to catch the light, to bear the years. A piece already steeped in story, yet unfinished—awaiting the etching of your words, fragments from your story—pressed into it… What will you inscribe?

The lyrical words below are a companion to this golden heirloom, this collection by RUUSK, a quiet ledger of presence—

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With Great Love.

A poem by Tess Guinery.

We rise slower these days,

body clocks waking with the sun's gentle arc.

Participants in this bright and holy dance,

we are students of it all…

… For it is WITH GREAT LOVE,

hearts grow…

...And there is a slowing down,
with space wide enough for breath,
for noticing,
for loving and loving well.

With great love we become hungry to see,

to touch,

sprawling out—

to chase the coloured winds,

wandering without arrival.

We listen differently, here—
we loosen our grip on certainty,
and let the world hum its quieter truths.

I have written many poems about love —
love that is less pursuit, more practice.

A way of being with the world—
of standing still
and learning the subtle languages of sky, soil, and season.

It is with great love
we learn to exist —
fully alive in the turning hours,
tending to the ache and wonder of simply being here,

and finding — without needing more —
that this,
this is simply enough.

With Great Love.

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View the poem in film below.

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Reader, sower, patron—co-conspirator in this evolving place of practice,

Thank you for being here, for seeing value in this quiet experiment of words. Your support is not just a kindness; it is a gesture of belief, a patronage in the old sense—a recognition that art, thought, and story matter. It tells me: keep going. And so, I do. Because you are here. Because you believe in the slow turning of thoughts into language, into poem. I am deeply grateful for you.

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xo