I approached the regal Lady sitting before me,
and fell to my knees, clutching at her velvet dress.
Salty tears pressed hard behind my eyeballs and welled-up,
and I cried out in heart-felt sorrow and distress.
“So many abandoned me for the Sky Gods,” sighed She,
“I, who feed and nurture you and from whose womb you spring.
Dear heart, I nurse you, protect and cherish you,
for I’m anima mundi and in me you cling.”
“I hold open my door for those whose doors are shut,
and yet you doubt me, afraid of daemons and treason.
You bind yourself tight with chains, and you yoke yourself
like a beast of burden to the sharp plough of Reason.”
“Why do you pretend I don’t exist, and spurn me?
Is that what they taught you to believe and despise
in church and school and the fad of scientism?
It’s clear I count for nothing in materialist eyes.”
“I am a deep well of soulful intuition,
a sacred spring of imagination and inspiration.
A sea whose waters run deep: you swim and breathe in me,
I bring a bountiful harvest and integration.”
“Plumb my depths and you’ll find the pearl of great price
and riches beyond compare: I am the original mater-ial.
Follow my scent and you’re sure to find your way;
follow until you arrive at the essential and real.”
“I swear to you, on all that is truly holy:
you will not suffer a molecule of loss.
Not a loss of anything that has true value,
just glittering fool’s gold, plastic tinsel, and dross.”
“Look and you will see nothing; close your eyes and see;
seek and you will find me waiting so peaceable.
Drink deeply and I'll fill your cup with strange delight,
And you will cry out, ‘But this is so unbelievable!’”
“Don’t try to force things, and they will arise naturally,
Just as the waters flow and like flowers in May.
Remember the sun is always shining, dear heart:
it’s our mood-laden clouds that get in our way.”
“You’ll find me in the sewing of a patchwork quilt;
in the smile of a passer-by, or bitter confection;
the light in dark depths, not some distant mountain peak;
in love and wholeness, and street-wise imperfection.”
Thus She spoke to me, and then slowly faded from sight,
and I found myself back in my warm bed with my kin.
“Close your eyes and dream,” came Her warm, whispered breath,
“and try to imagine this blessèd cosmos within.”
~ ET. Yorkshire, England, © Wednesday 23 September 2020.
Image: Elihu Vedder - Soul in Bondage - Google Art Project.
Artist: Elihu Vedder (1836–1923).
Image source: Wikimedia Commons.
Image licence: Public domain.