Turning Towards the Morning

( Winter Solstice 2020 )

COAL

My deep longing 

for you is

a hole in my heart.

You barely graced

this land with your presence

last summer

and then

always in Fear.

That I loved you

wasn’t enough

this time

to create

a circle

containing

us both.

I mourned,

and keen still

over that Absence…

The Mother Tree

imagines curved claws

on her trunk.

If you survived

the slaughter

you sleep

in the Peace

that only

the Gentle Beings –

 who inhabit

undisturbed forest

 know.

Or,

alert now,

 breathing slow

 bear compassion

 seeds a frozen lair.

 You are curled into

a mother ball

waiting to give birth.

A wee cub

turns over

in your womb

reminding us

both, that

Life is always

in a state

of Becoming.

If you are alive…

come back to me.

  I am lonely

for your

beautiful Coal

Black Body

shimmering in the son.

Don’t you know

that I am wed

to your kind

 in dreams?

The Mother Tree

awaits your coming.

Rainbow Goddess

 

Winged Iris flew over earth and sea.

Rainbows luminesced in her wake.

Messenger from the clouds,

she gathered up the rain,

pouring it on dry cracked ground.

 

One transplanted rhizome bore

three green swords, and

a single grassy stalk,

unfurled ruffled velvet blossoms.

Furry lemon tongues lured

hummingbird and bee…

Iris thrived, spreading a delft blue sky

amid flaming orange mallow.

 

Working Notes:

Early this morning when I went out to water my plants I experienced a moment of wonder. The single stalk and leaves that had grown out of a rabbit ravaged Iris rhizome that I had rescued, was unfurling its first bud. The unexpected sight of this large delicately fluted blue flower in the early morning light sparked a moment of pure joy as a hummingbird hovered over her … Bright orange Globe mallow is an astonishing wildflower that springs up without assistance and it covers my desert backyard making a delightful contrast of colors.

In Greek Mythology Iris was goddess of the rainbow and a messenger from the gods. She was also a goddess of sea and sky. Her father was a god of the sea. Her mother was a cloud nymph. For the coastal dwelling Greeks the rainbow arc spanned the distance between cloud and sea, and the virgin goddess (as in one unto herself having nothing to do with being celibate) Iris replenished the rain clouds with water from the sea.