Welcome to Poetry Party #49!
I select an image and suggest a theme/title and invite you to respond with your poems or other reflections. Scroll down and add your responses in the comments section below. Feel free to take your poem in any direction and then post the image and invitation on your blog (if you have one) and encourage others to come join the party! (permission is granted to reprint the image if a link is provided back to this post)
On Friday, January 28th, I will draw a name at random from the participants and send the winner a free registration for the Lenten Online Retreat: Journey with the Desert Mothers & Fathers.
Roar, Lion of the Heart, and tear me open!
-Rumi
When I was in Vienna over Christmas I ended up in the hospital with a pulmonary embolism. Thirty percent of people die with this condition. This brush with death has had a powerful impact on me that is still shimmering across my life and I imagine will for a long time. In the quiet days of healing that followed my husband and I wandered the beautiful old city streets, cherishing one another, savoring life. In our explorations I kept discovering lions calling to me – in churches, on street corners, in building entryways, on door knockers.
When I returned home I went to see my spiritual director to share the story of this journey. We talked of many things, but one which especially resonated is that he said there was a fierce part of me that chose to keep living and I was being called to discover what that fierceness was fighting for. As he uttered those words I knew immediately that this was connected to the call of lions. There is a roar inside of me that is tearing me open to new layers of discovery.
What are the things of your life you are called to protect fiercely? Where are you being called to greater courage?
I invite you to write a poem about fierceness. Much of our talk in spiritual circles is about what feels good or pleasing, and while these are important, just as vital are those experiences in life that confront us with the underside of things, that call out of us a fierce longing and sense of the the fertile depths. Give your fierceness a shape or form, explore its roar through poetry.
(Photo of lion in Vienna)
*Note – the comments are moderated and may take a few hours to appear (those whose comments have been approved previously will appear instantly
62 Responses
‘I am woman, hear me roar ‘- those are the words from the old Helen Reddy song – I am woman, if anyone still remembers it.
I think those words fit well in well with this theme of fierceness and lions. For me, those words resonated back then and they still do so today.
Guardian dream
Out of my bed to arrive at this dream…
**************************************
Three bears walk alongside a vast green field.
I alone in the middle; where to flee?
Then seven lioness’s approach me.
Standing breathless I ask how to be shield?
Eyeing me a bear licks his furry face.
One by one the lions circle my place.
Their breath so warm, eyes so knowing, healing.
****************************************
The message, “we are your guardians”…dream.
Genora W. Powell 1/23/11
Dream was in 2009
LAUGHING LION
Oh, Laughing Lion,
why do you look at me and laugh
with your savage smile
and your weighty padded paws
with their curved, cutting claws?
You carefully discern my dilemma.
You know the fears I try to hide.
I yearn for you to tear open my thorny thoughts,
to roar them into reality.
I desire so wantonly to retrieve those hidden musings.
I long so greatly for them to surface,
to become a part of my psyche.
But my mind is frozen with fear now
and refuses to reveal them.
Oh, Laughing Lion,
let loose my pain.
I need to be free,
like you,
to roar at the wind
and let my secrets surface,
casting my words without caution to the wind
or anyone who will listen.
Perhaps, I am not afraid anymore
of those thoughts that would steal my sanity.
Maybe I could laugh at them
like you.
I could be courageous.
I could be full of life.
I could let whatever comes boiling up
stream out with no regrets.
I need your confidence,
your carefree attitude,
the vigorous tilt of your head,
that laughs at the world
because you know it can’t harm you.
I can only offer a mellow meow in comparison.
I wish I had a majestic mane
like you
that I could bravely brandish
in defiance and confidence.
I wish I had powerful, surging, grasping paws
like you
that I could extend
and tear open whatever was in my way.
“I can do anything I want and you can’t stop me!”
they would say.
I wish… I wish…
I wish I wasn’t lying.
I am afraid.
I am afraid of dying.
At least
let me laugh for awhile
like you
at death.
why do i dream
of a lion roaming
free in my home
mane thick as desert sand
eyes of liquid gold
soft steps, their intent unknown
yes i left the doors open
broke the leash
lifted my face to the lightning
that is why i dream
of a lion roaming
free in my home
© 2011 Padmavani Karkera
Dogs At My Heels
( For Mary, my little sister, who went before me)
The Dogs are on my trail-
I duck into the night Woods,
Hiding from the full Moon,
Hiding from killing Teeth,
Hiding from deadly Fear,
The Dogs are at my heels-
I flounder in dark Thickets,
Falling flat,
Falling down
And down,
Falling into nettles that claw.
The Dogs are at my back-
I smell their rancid breath,
Looking over my naked shoulder,
Looking into red Eyes,
Looking
(Oh, no!)
Into my Snarling Soul.
No00000000!
I scream at its Monster Face.
Yesssssssssss!
She yells back,
Your Protector, I am.
I have your small back.
For I am
Michael the Archangel,
Shiva the Destroyer,
Dakinis All,
Warrior Athena,
Mary of the Waves,
Jize of the Hell Realms,
Joan of Arc Shining,
Holy Dogs with Teeth
Bared-
For you.
I travel with the Dogs of my Soul
Now-
Through terror of the Heart,
Through cells running Wild,
Through a little sister’s Death,
Through a longtime Lover’s Betrayal.
In Winter’s knives of cold,
Into Noah floods,
And Hell fires,
Up, up mountain sides,
Down into claustrophobic
Caves,
I go with the Pack.
We are Fierce Ones-
We run for our lives,
We hunt for our survival,
We kill to keep our young safe.
We are My Snarling Soul,
My Master,
( You know it!)
Holy, holy, holy
Hound of Heaven.
(2/23/2011)
for so long
caged
by beloved family
responsibilities
now
the bars are down
where
will the beast prowl?
fire
ready to blaze forth
devour
What I Learned from the Lion
Though most fade by daylight,
this dream lingers a lifetime.
First image, first imperative.
Six-year-old self tells me again at twenty,
more fully at fifty – listen.
Hear the fear the heart awry
breath broken shallow/held/gulps
feel the lion looming in shadows
of the bedroom feel belly tighten
frozen legs beg to run arms torn
between flailing/fending
or holding tight to make myself
small.
Roaring from the edges of my world
the lion comes to me
fiercely
dream-slow,
so close he nearly topples me,
sits as if he means to stay
here all my life. When I think
I cannot wake, shake off the terror,
the lion leans into my fear,
places his head against mine.
His mane caresses my face
cheek to cheek rubbing
soothing
sobbing releasing
nothing to fear
no thing, fear
no fear.
I Fall. Fearless. In Love.
Silence roars
against the painful stillness
breaking
my heart
into a thousand shards
crying for release
from the battlefield
of life
lost
in fear
of the pungent
hot
breath
of the lion
breathing
fiercely
down my neck
Courage knocks
I ignore
my heart
beating.
Silence roars
hot breath
bearing down
pushing
prodding
probing
my will tangled up
curving back
into myself
helplessly
flailing
against courage
lost
within
the lair
of the lion’s mane
Courage whispers my name
I hear it
falling
asleep.
Silence roars
I awaken
and hear
the beat
of my heart
pounding
fiercely
against the fear
of falling
into gentle arms
of nothing
more than who I am
when I
let go of fear
and fall
into the One
who Loves me.
Silence roars
I roar back
The lion retreats.
I fall.
Fearless.
In Love.
Weak for so long
Identified with the Lion in the Wizard of Oz
Where was my courage?
Where was my strength?
I cried out to God to help me
I cried out to God to take care of me and my children
I cried out to God to rid my family of Satan’s grasp
Weak for so long
I wanted to be strong
I wanted to take control
I wanted it to all go away.
I cried out to God to get me off the Merry go Round
I cried out to God to take away the pain
I cried out to God to make it all right.
And then I found it
The courage to stand up for myself and for my children
The courage to stand against the damage being done by addiction
The courage to pack my bags and leave.
I cried out to God again and again
I cried out for an end to the misery
I cried out to God to make it all right.
And God said: you are strong
Only you can make it right again
Only you can walk the path
Only you can acknowledge the past for what it was and look forward
I am strong
Still crying out to God, but now with more thanksgiving and less complaining
I am strong
Courage was the path…I just had to agree to walk on it!
I got caught up in a couple thoughts about what makes me ferocious, so I have two offerings…first, loving kindness:
take this bread and cup
all that thirst
all that are imprisoned
come to me
all that thirst
beyond the false satiety
at the corner store
all that are imprisoned
by walls named
poverty and circumstance
come to me
and receive
loving-kindness
~Terri Stewart, January 2011
http://cloakedmonk.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/loving-kindness/
and amma whale…
amma whale
sings a lament
waiting for a sign
that her children
have not abandoned
her
ignoring her cry
pursuits of life
becoming
pursuits of death
becoming locked up
in a cage made to
perform for others
amma still sings
as her song
echoes through time
and space
searching for her dears
calling them home
those that have ears, let them hear
~Terri Stewart, January 2011
http://cloakedmonk.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/amma-whale/
Thank you Christine!