Song of My Heart
by Elizabeth Reeke
Everywhere I find you,
a bright blue butterfly flitting through the meadows,
the white wolf lying across the mountains,
an incessant warm breath in my ear,
the stillness lingering in the forest,
the bright October gold stretching to the horizon,
the fall that has become spring.
You have carried me beneath the glistening granite,
under the falling waters, deep within the earth,
through the steaming vapors that bathe life’s journeys
and prepare an abode for the light.
As one we walked through childhood,
the vale of mist and spray,
splashing, laughing, dappled sunlight,
teeming, thronging particles of life,
a head lying heavy on a pillow
filled with a dense silence.
I have seen you in the sunlight parting the clouds,
the earthlight,
the starlight,
the celestial light,
the brightness of spirit
that shines in the darkest hours.
I hear you in the calls of the wild geese wheeling over the marsh,
the wind whistling in the pines,
yet when my flute sings out, you fly beyond the heavens,
when my strings are plucked, you hide in the stillness,
a silence so profound even the mind must heed.
You are that source of knowledge that ignites by study,
that shows me the path to the sacred mountain,
impels my steps to dance in gladness,
you see through the depths of time,
all that has passed and all that will come,
keeper of the endless hour.
You shelter me from frigid snows, the dark forest,
the wolves and the sorrows:
it is you who follow wherever I go,
a gentle hand upon my shoulder.
You are the sunset deep within my body,
the flight of the hawk and the owl and the eagle,
the quivering heartbeat of the earth,
the melody of life.
We play among the deep cool ferns,
the moss-covered trunks and damp earth,
springing with bounding leaps in the soft mist,
a pulsing, glowing sea of life,
without body, without form.
When the spring comes forth
you lurk in the marsh grass,
cradle the baby geese and turtle eggs,
hold my tiny body close;
come walk with me.
Together we sang my love songs,
embraced my beloved,
rejoiced with the sweet joy of union
in the springtime of life.
You are the surgeon who sucks the deadly pus,
the sorcerer who leaves me weak and shaking
yet holds me tenderly and heals my wounds.
It was you who came to my bedside when I was a child,
who guided me beyond the worlds:
do you remember?
You are the goddess of the heavens,
the myriad glowing stars,
the wellspring of inspiration and compassion and grace,
the long passage through the darkness of night.
You are with me through all my journeys,
the depth and breadth and fullness of life,
treading softly though the forest,
waiting quietly at the crossroads,
guiding me safely home.
Copyright © 2019 by Elizabeth Reeke.