Gratitude for Time and Light

The Word

Down near the bottom
of the crossed-out list
of things you have to do today,

between “green thread”
and “broccoli,” you find
that you have penciled “sunlight.”

Resting on the page, the word
is beautiful. It touches you
as if you had a friend

and sunlight were a present
he had sent from someplace distant
as this morning—to cheer you up,

and to remind you that,
among your duties, pleasure
is a thing

that also needs accomplishing.
Do you remember?
that time and light are kinds

of love, and love
is no less practical
than a coffee grinder

or a safe spare tire?
Tomorrow you may be utterly
without a clue,

but today you get a telegram
from the heart in exile,
proclaiming that the kingdom

still exists,
the king and queen alive,
still speaking to their children,

—to any one among them
who can find the time
to sit out in the sun and listen.

~Tony Hoagland
in Sweet Ruin, 1992
☀️

Image: Pacific Sun
by Nancy Lankston

The Giant Heart of the World

“I tell you here not a story out of a book, not an ‘approved’ story by a distant court, but a personal vision come into my heart from La Señora en una visita en un sueño despierto, from visitation.

I offer what I call in my life, ‘the vision that visited me’ here, only as it might be useful for others on their journey, to be encouraged that Everything will be alright. Keep to the Radiant Ideal as you see fit, and and if need be, fight like heck– and do not forget to
bless everything and everyone you can.


In much of our world, he is known as
Santo Cristobal, St. Christopher, the Giant.

One late day, he met a strange little child all alone at the edge of a raging river. The little child was dressed in a long white gown

People were afraid of the Giant. He had a reputation for being to himself alone, for being– just by gargantuan stature– a threatening figure that people feared and ran away from.

But at the river, the little one, unafraid, pulled at Cristobal’s armor, and begged to be carried across the river –for he himself could not negotiate the treacherous waters that leapt and dove deep as they crashed forward.

Cristobal bent to ask the child why he was not afraid of Cristobal. And the child replied he did not fear a giant’s Heart, only the raging places of no heart.

So Cristobal lifted the feather weight of the child onto his shoulder, and stepped into the cold rushing waters, struggling across the stormy river nearly losing his balance time and again.

With his tall, stout staff and his big rope-sandaled feet, he found his footing time after time until suddenly, in mid-stream…

the child on his shoulder grew heavier and heavier, so much so that Cristobal began to stagger in the currents.

Under this sudden huge weight upon one shoulder Cristobal fell, his body covered by the icy raging spume.

But with all his might, his muscles creaking, he fought and fought to lift the little child above his head, holding the little one above the jagged waters.

But then, the child became again lighter and lighter, and Cristobal finally, huffing and groaning like a huge sky furnace, found his way to the other side of the raging river.

Soaked to the bone, he fell to one knee on the sparkling sandy river bank. He gently set down the little child who was dry and unharmed. And whose little white gown now glowed as though lit from within.

‘Child, child, tell me how you became such a great weight upon my shoulder in the midst of a raging river?’

The child leaned forward and gently kissed the giant’s grizzled face, the child’s warm cheek warming the giant’s cold cheek.

“I am the force of Love in the midst of turmoil. As great as the roil might be, Love is the weightier, the more powerful. Those who struggle to carry Love in the midst of all else, will prevail. The treasure will be protected.”

And thus Cristobal, though as giant as before, was preceded by a radiant light as he walked, one to which others were attracted instead of being afraid. He carried much and many. With Love.

And the Child, true to his word, grew up to teach and heal the hearts of many in such love, was sacrificed by those without heart, descended into and utterly distressed hell with the purity of Love, came back from the dead, living onward forever.

As Love does. And will. And must, by hiding it in the place the raging river would never think to look ::: on the shoulder of the Giant Heart of the World.”

~Clarissa Pinkola Estes

💗

The Unspeaking Center

She who reconciles the ill-matched threads
of her life, and weaves them gratefully
into a single cloth—
it’s she who drives the loudmouths from the hall
and clears it for a different celebration

where the one guest is you.
In the softness of evening
it’s you she receives.

You are the partner of her loneliness,
the unspeaking center of her monologues.
With each disclosure you encompass more
and she stretches beyond what limits her,
to hold you.

~Rainer Maria Rilke

☽☾

#SelfLove

Dreaming Back My Sisters


“I am dreaming back my sisters

Whisper-worn footfalls on the Temple steps

Skywalkers

Storm dwellers

Heavy-breasted cauldron keepers

Songweavers

Snake sisters

Darkmoon dancers

Labyrinth builders

Star bridgers

Fiery-eyed dragon-ryders

Wind seekers

Shape shifters

Corn daughters

Wolf women

Earth stewards

Gentle-handed womb sounders

Dream spinners

Flame keepers

Moon birthers

Come home sisters, come home”

~Marie Elena Gaspari

Her Longing

Lilith
John Collier 1887

She wants to meet the serpent
Have a chat with Eve in the garden
Before she was banished
For the sin
Of wise curiosity.

She longs to sit with Medusa,
Gazing into her eyes
While M recounts 
The whole sordid tale
From her point of view.

She craves dinner with Lilith
And all her beasts
On a beach overlooking a sea of red.
They will talk until the full moon rises
Then dance with Cybele until dawn

She wishes to hear stories of HER
The Great Goddess
Stories that lie long buried
Beneath a pile of myths and legends
Told for millennia in a male voice.

She longs to learn more, so much more
About Her lineage
Her story
Her wisdom
From the she’s who came before.

And so she sits quietly waiting.
She senses every story of Her Is still here,
Hidden in ripples on still water
In bird song at dawn
And the flicker of flame in the night.

So she sits
She listens
She waits
Holding her longing
Close.

~Nancy Lankston

Hey Mansplainer

This was Inspired by the faces of the women of Congress watching Trump’s State of the Union speech…

Blah blah blah
Blah blah
Are you trying to impress me?
Because it’s not working.
What exactly is your point?
Maybe there isn’t one.
Maybe you simply love
the sound of you own voice.


Blah blah blah
Blah blah
This voice of authority
Lecture series of yours
Bores me spit-less.
Oh, I’ve smiled politely
For my entire life
As ‘important’ guys
Explained the world to me.
It’s getting old, so old.


Blah blah blah
Blah blah
It’s way past time
To reveal my true face.
My nobody cares face.
My you’re so full of shit face.
My do you impress yourself face.
My holy Hell, who put you in charge face.


Blah blah blah
Blah blah.
Times up.