And the miraculous thing

Is the circling round of the year
to a sacred day
regardless of the ephemera.

This day’s call, irresistible.
My merry lass’s natal day!

I shall watch the sun rise and remember the story
while she sleeps, safe and sound, nearby.

Breathing, barely,

and pulsing and aching and striving and turning and being present to others because that proves that I exist and waiting so patiently behind my mask which is covered with flowers and vines and fruit so that it is no mask at all.

Breathing, barely, but I know that that is “sunshine” and this is “soft dog” and somehow I still have hope because I have tried the alternative and I’m done with that nonsense.

Samhain, 2020

He was standing there waiting for me, revealed by moonlight,
and then all the others came,
the ghosts and the gods,
so I could give thanks
and refrain from making promises
and give more thanks.

Stag and Thunder;
Moon and Earth;
Wolf and Bear;
Owl and Coyote;
Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars;
Cygnus, Aquila, and Lyra;
Fire and Dance;
Mother and Father.

Now it is morning:
Moon and Earth still here,
Orion has his two good dogs and I have mine,
and we all have a Silmaril in the Eastern sky.
Oh, and the coyotes are still singing.

Finally we turn back.
Hearth and Home
and sleeping family.

All will be well,
And all will be well,
And all manner of things will be well.

~

That last stanza is, of course, written by Saint Julian of Norwich. Blessed Samhain and all the new year ahead to you and yours.

Some days pass so gently,

Stretching Time out in such a way,
that several days share one sleep.

It’s very different from the frenzied packing-everything-in days.

I am grateful for yesterday – the day when we said farewell to my retiring doctor,
The day I spent knitting,
The day I spent teaching and grading papers,
The day I spent with loved ones.

Thank you, gentle day in October, for your gentle way with Time.

The Circle of Family

They dance before me — or hide behind veils —
Who is this circle?
What do they know of themselves?
What do they not know?

Who is in this Family and who is not? Who lives
within these walls, if body is nowhere near as important as spirit?

Who are they to me?
Perhaps that’s the question.

And whom do they need me to be to them?