I used to be born into this life laughing
Embarking on what appeared to me to be
A heavenly sojourn on a blessed planet.
In my first reminiscence, I lay among the many exuberant peonies bursting into
Moonlit white, beguiling pink, raucous blood crimson from tiny buds.
Clasping palms, the peonies and I held Earth’s magnificence tight
In daybreak’s ever-brightening kiss of the solar.
At that immediate I didn’t but know all I had sacrificed for my start.
Did I keep in mind gamboling contentedly within the Otherworld’s fairy mild
Whereas ready to emerge into fragile flesh on twentieth century Earth?
Did I do know that the worth for this mortal human life could be
Ache, starvation, violence, anger, bereavement, and loss of life?
Through the years I’ve usually questioned why the goddesses select to dwell
On Earth, consorting with us people filled with faults and tragedies.
Why did they create our eggshell brittle our bodies and minds
And stay to assist us decide up the items when every life fades so quickly like
Peony blooms within the blistering late summer season?
Why did Durga battle the Demon to save lots of us?*
Why did Demeter regenerate the panorama to nourish us**
And Amaterasu emerge from her sanctuary cave to revive us with Her daylight?***
I feel my very own reply arose in that first second of consciousness among the many peonies,
That ur reminiscence from which all others in my life developed,
After I spun with gratitude in Earth’s gravitational orbit and
Fell in love with all life on our planet.
The ancients say that the Greek goddess Selene
Drove Her chariot, the moon, throughout the sky.
She invented peonies to mirror the glow of moonbeams onto Earth
And thus defend us from the terrors of the night time and evil spirits.
Maybe, as an alternative, She merely longed to see our faces shining in Hers.
Simply as we’re enlightened by experiencing our personal divinity,
May She be in search of illumination in her personal humanness amongst us?
She witnesses as we take care of injured animals and new child timber
Make love and luxury and caress
Construct cozy shelters, cook dinner meals, train youngsters the methods of our ancestors
Whistle and sing and cry and converse poetry
Dance and paint and sculpt and weave.
She sees all these issues we do to ease
Earth’s ache, starvation, violence, anger, bereavement, and loss of life
And so develop communion and compassion and repair
To make everybody’s each second the most effective of our world.
The goddesses maintain shut the reality that the bliss of the solar on our cheek at first mild
Whereas fierce blooms rise from the grime to mirror the radiance of the moon
Is the best reward within the universe.
They honor that the acts we people do to assuage struggling and sorrow are
As holy and worthy of reverence as historic myths and revered rituals.
In kinship, could we mortals and divine bless this swish planet all of us share.
*Durga is a Hindu goddess who conquered a fearsome demon to save lots of the Earth
** Demeter is a Greek Earth Goddess who withdrew the life pressure of the planet when Her daughter Persephone was kidnapped and raped. When Persephone was launched for half the 12 months, Demeter once more allowed the Earth to be fruitful.
*** Amaterasu is a Japanese Shinto solar Goddess who retreated right into a cave when Her brother ravaged the Earth, thus plunging the world into darkness. She emerged again into the world when She was lured out of the cave and Her folks held up a mirror so She might see Her personal magnificence.
Photograph of peony by Carolyn Lee Boyd
Unique revealed in Return to Mago, July 8, 2022
