These are some Dawn Redwood friends I like to visit, especially when grieving. The welcome they exude is palpable.

Beloveds ~

A poem to help us meet this moment.

Tzohar

 A skylight you are to make for the Ark (Genesis 6:16)

 Again, again, the fires of men rain hard,
while dealers fatten their profits
and the ministers of violence,
their guns and their lies,
lording over all the nations, ignore
the tears of the ground. 

There is a light through the middle
of your brow, penny size,
luster of a pearl.
You sit here, in your little ark,
beneath a quiet glow,
soaking in a love that lands
where you need it,
deep in the belly of your rage.

You sit in your grief, you sit in despair,
until a new light stirs
from deepest earth within you.
Miracle of miracles, you begin
to rise to meet the sun
as it pours from above. You know,
as any mother, any lover knows,
the value of each breathing life.
You feel it in your children’s cheeks,
in your satisfied cat’s purr,
in every bright bird
you have ever praised.
You hold the pearl of life
as it is given.

 The dealers of death will pay
for every life stolen. For them too,
your heart is broken.
It is not for you to be a dealer,
to dish out torment in any god’s,
any nation’s, any idol’s name.
There’s a will in the light as it flows
through the opening in your ark.
Trust only that will,
only this light. 

–Susan Windle

November, 2023

Blessings,

Susan