Here I Will Be

I want to take it slow and deep

listen with my ovaries

and respond from the ancient caverns of bone.

Taking note of flux and temperature

the unspoken,

taste the patterns that bleed out of the moment

for this alone is truth.

I want to cultivate presence

hidden right in plain sight.

Set aflame the artificial

living within me;

Come home to my nature,

again and again,

For however long it takes.

I'll walk up the river

bow at each crossing

tend each flame needing care

cry every tear I've come here to shed

shout and weep through the canyon

'til morning.

My voice becomes stronger

with my life well lived

well earned

and learned-

engraved, each stroke,

upon the brow of creation.

I will not be taken.

I am an old lady who's seen and watched

sitting in my chair,

peering,

as between feathers of a wing.

They will try and take us,

yet we will not go.

We are here with our Earth

here with Spirit

telling time by the movement of shadow

and growth of lichen upon bark.

We live these hours

moments

moons,

in the light of ancestral stars.

Try as they will.

Try as they may.

I'll simply keep sensing

carrying my basket of roots and thorns;

becoming ever more woman

and human,

Earthly

and ancient

the more I am pushed,

churned

and polished.

Until I turn to dust,

here I will be.