It's the trees with their roots
gritted in mud
keeping an ancient grip
on what happens here
(again
and again)
that I find ,
along with my former self.
She is sitting on stone, a foot stool
to the huge oak
brocaded in moss. A stream
runs over her feet
washing off the weariness
of a journey
a young girl has taken.
Something I have forgotten
as a woman spun
in her own web of schedules
and skill, acquired insight
and savvy.
Here in the hush
of the deer's house
where things shift at dawn and dusk,
the maiden comes
with all of her whys
plaited in hair that has been coiled.
A spiraled shell reluctant
to be unraveled, yet wanting
reason to comb through questions
on love and rescue, deed and reward.
All promises made
by myth or moonlight
that did not occur as foretold
and what follows next.. I have forgotten
the down cast head, the drooping hand
but most of all --
the sensitive muscle
that still pumps enough blood
to keep her sunrise sanguine. Her spirit
shafted between the odds
like tinder light baiting
a dream
to come about.
___________________________________________________________
This was both influenced by a wonderful interview with
Ellen Kushner and Maria Warner on the Diane Rehm show along with the "Melisande"
painting by Marian Stokes. When confronting that first disillusionment , as
young females, regarding the unreality of a myth or idealistic belief, we are very vulnerable, overshadowed by
fear and a hesitancy to trust. Yet, within that solitude, there is also reflection
on the "ifs and whys" of the
matter. And despite the down fall of that romanticism, there is also resilience, a heart that
longs to rebound and still take risk, a
rebelliousness that gambles on a new dream or personal goal.
Note -- The beautiful painting is called, "Melisande" by Marian Stokes
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