My Voice
Someone…
has taken my voice
and locked me away
in a gilded cage.
The key
hangs right there, to the right
beside the open door
that I dare not step through
and leave.
I search for every seed
I can find,
memories
of a time before words
when my voice was
trees,
rocks,
roots,
leaves and flowers.
My voice was rain,
ocean,
wind and the smoke of lightening…
My voice sang of stars,
comets,
of the full moon
dying to the night, only to be reborn
with my breathing
and the rising sun
scattering the dream horses
to the wild mountains.
If I am everything…
then I am this silence
and the silencer…
I am that courageous act
that shattered the first language
with the utterance of sound
and then a single word
that is now written
in stone
on paper
and the numbers that slide through cyberspace…
I am the threshold
that beckons me to cross over,
reach for the key
and open the lock
that sits
in the palm of my hand.
Poem inspired in reading
Cathy Cochran’s Novena Post for
Way of the Rose’s 54 Day Flower Power Novena
Sorrowful Mysteries
Day 32
February 28, 2021
has taken my voice
and locked me away
in a gilded cage.
The key
hangs right there, to the right
beside the open door
that I dare not step through
and leave.
I search for every seed
I can find,
memories
of a time before words
when my voice was
trees,
rocks,
roots,
leaves and flowers.
My voice was rain,
ocean,
wind and the smoke of lightening…
My voice sang of stars,
comets,
of the full moon
dying to the night, only to be reborn
with my breathing
and the rising sun
scattering the dream horses
to the wild mountains.
If I am everything…
then I am this silence
and the silencer…
I am that courageous act
that shattered the first language
with the utterance of sound
and then a single word
that is now written
in stone
on paper
and the numbers that slide through cyberspace…
I am the threshold
that beckons me to cross over,
reach for the key
and open the lock
that sits
in the palm of my hand.
Poem inspired in reading
Cathy Cochran’s Novena Post for
Way of the Rose’s 54 Day Flower Power Novena
Sorrowful Mysteries
Day 32
February 28, 2021
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Labyrinths provide us with a path to practice change. Some labyrinths have withstood the passage of time for thousands of years. Others are here for just an afternoon, drawn in the sand at the edge of the ocean. Many modern labyrinths were meant to last for years, but because of unforeseen circumstances their time is shorter than intended. And they once again help us to practice letting go and giving thanks for the time they are with us. The Labyrinth of Life at the Sebastopol, California Teen Center reached such place of letting go and is at the end of one chapter and the beginning of another chapter that is yet unknown.

Sometimes... a labyrinth can take years to become a physical reality. In 2018 I met with my friend Deb, to discuss her desire to have a labyrinth on the beautiful land she lives on. Despite our plans and several meetings, listening to the land and finding the right spot, the labyrinth did not come to fruition. Fast-forward five years and in the blink of an eye... it happened!