July 24th, 2024

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Bike Path at Dusk

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Some Day, if you are lucky,
you’ll return from a thunderous journey
trailing snake scales, wing fragments
and the musk of Earth and moon.
 
Eyes will examine you for signs
of damage, or change
and you, too, will wonder
if your skin shows traces
 
of fur, or leaves,
if thrushes have built a nest
of your hair, if Andromeda
burns from your eyes.
 
Do not be surprised by prickly questions
from those who barely inhabit
their own fleeting lives, who barely taste
their own possibility, who barely dream.
 
If your hands are empty, treasureless,
if your toes have not grown claws,
if your obedient voice has not
become a wild cry, a howl,
 
you will reassure them. We warned you,
they might declare, there is nothing else,
no point, no meaning, no mystery at all,
just this frantic waiting to die.
 
And yet, they tremble, mute,
afraid you’ve returned without sweet
elixir for unspeakable thirst, without
a fluent dance or holy language
 
to teach them, without a compass
bearing to a forgotten border where
no one crosses without weeping
for the terrible beauty of galaxies
 
and granite and bone. They tremble,
hoping your lips hold a secret,
that the song your body now sings
will redeem them, yet they fear
 
your secret is dangerous, shattering,
and once it flies from your astonished
mouth, they-like you-must disintegrate
before unfolding tremulous wings.
 
— Geneen Marie Haugen, The Return
 
Writer's Prompt: 

• “That song your body now sings,” write about that. What is the song your body now sings?

Active Contemplation:   

• What is your secret? Why do others fear it is dangerous and shattering? What might it shatter?

Contemplative Action:

•  We hold these gifts as seeds till they must take root and then push through the soil of our daily lives and into the light to nourish (and entertain) and inspire others. The action I invite you to take is to share with at least one friend what your secret gift is. Or gifts.  Take them (your friend and secret) out for a walk or meal. Tell your friend what you will bring forth for all of us to see and consume. Tell them of your secret song.  Share your secret song. 
  
  The song of your body can indeed redeem them. Redeem us all.