Vinotok
:::eco-grief/regenerated hope:::
Insomnia keeps some Sane.
The ability to stay awake while everyone else sleeps is a curious gift,
And a curious nightmare.
Amnesia assembles, wrapping the unholy choir in an ugly veil of memory loss.
Foggy, details unclear, a Still, Small Voice.
*photo by Sarah M. Stearns
Forgive me friend.
Sometimes I don’t speak for hours.
It doesn’t mean I’m angry at you.
Forgive me stranger.
Sometimes I cry for days on end.
Please, don’t worry.
I may erupt in wild abandon suddenly.
Emerging from a long spell of silence.
Just listen… Not to me, but to the Space between us.
Hold the tension.
Grieve with me.
When glancing upon me as the light from this blaze
causes shadows to form ‘cross wet eyes,
I may appear to be a monster.
Look deeper.
I have invited forgotten ancestors to sit alongside me.
Many of them have never been held properly before,
Their great stories never heard by anyone.
I am listening to them now.
Oh, there are monsters around us in this long night!
To be sure, some of them are quite frightening, at first.
Take courage, my child.
Be courteous.
Approach with caution and ask the old man, “What ails thee?”…
Do not fight fire with yet more fire!
There are many things we’ll never fully understand.
Just allow Her to burn.
Sing to Her.
And make room for others to join you.
The Autumn Equinox now sets the forests ablaze.
Magnificent flames fall elegantly from Summers dying sky.
Her memories will feed the Earth
And allow the bears to sleep.
But tonight, we feast!
Tonight, we make merry.
The Green Man will protect us for now.
For now, the Old Grump burns.
Yet do not be fooled dear ones. Be cautious with your wine.
For creeping in the shadows, disguised as lovers of Her
The lords of amnesia patiently wait.
And surely soon, they will return.
Clever, they will justify the building of
Terrible castles of forgetfulness.
And once these awful monuments are erected,
Over the Holy Wild,
It will be very hard to remember Her name.
Very hard indeed.
In these times the “monsters” can be better friends
than the poorly dressed smiling ones.
Living as they do on little huts resting on chickens’ legs,
The almighty HOA has little patience for Her version of beauty!
Now is the time to learn another dance…
Take heed, look deeper.
Within these dark places you will find real friends.
Harder they are to find now, this is surely true.
Yet go further, into the Still Night and find Her.
Take courage. Follow Her glowing skull.
This is it.
We are really in it now.
Only a forgotten way can lift the veil.
An ancient way, never seen.
This isn’t about us.
We art but That.
Please, smile.
It is so.
*dedicated to Marcie Telander and Mark Schwiesow (Happy 50th!)
May Peace Prevail on Earth.
Appreciate the ethereal mystery of this - I listened to it early this morning while chopping garlic to put in my tomatoe sauce I am canning.