~ by Avellina Balestri
To each and every one of you
Who feels my breathing through my words,
Words fueled but not consumed by the fire in the head…
I give you my heart and my hand.
Words into me, and out of me,
Before and behind me,
And all in a circle around me,
Enlivening me
Permeating me
As the soul sings eternally,
Causing mortal flesh to dance
For it is lit by the Torch of Life,
And so we are all here Alive…
The dance of fingers upon letters and signs
Symbols of a deeper knowing
Borne deep in the womb of our true selves
Wrenched out of us by the conscious “I”,
The knowing of ourselves, and our bleeding out
Into each other, soul-bleeding, soul-infusing…
Who are we, children of the stars?
Who are we, children of the soil?
We are One with the Spirit
And the Word
With our words, warmly wrought
Sometimes with laughter, or with tears,
Weaving stories, hopes and fears
Of hearts in anguish we wish to heal
Of souls in turmoil we wish to save,
Of a Vulcan, with his logic –
Will he find true wisdom?
Of a half-man with his cunning –
Will he be made whole?
Of a Death-Eater haunted by death –
Will Love win out the stronger?
We wish upon the blessed stars
That run through us now as blood
That we, who give the universe a face,
May work with light and stir with fire
To live our lives in such a way
That we are reconciled to all –
To the depths of our own darkness
To the brokenness of brothers,
To the creative energies,
And to the hour of our death
So I will tell my tales while the heart pounds in me
I will count them worthy to the last day
My small flickering self, put out to be felt
Like a candle in the window, welcoming the traveler
My small self, by universal self, all of myself…
My laughing self, my sob-wrenched self, my bloodied self…
All of me you may have, hands outstretched
I will hold nothing back from you
I will share it with you…
The tears, the hurt, the twisting
The scorn, the sorrow, and the shock
The loss you feel cannot be filled
Except with strains of melancholy
I will spin for you those strains
For they may melt the stones
And crack the scales of the heart
But I will also share with you…
The laughter, the joy, the beauty
The glimpses of some dream we had
Before our waking
Our messy, honest, imperfect, giggling selves
Oh, I love you…let me hold you to my heart…
I will pour out like the song is poured out
And stripped as the corn is stripped
For every day is a reconciling
To consummation
When my time is done
And all my stories told
And you may know
The eternal part of me has touched you
Is touching you, as yours is touching me
And that whatever love is in me still,
Infused, I hope, with star-shot fire
Loves you in words
No mortal tongue can tell