One Who Sees

 

My precious, precious body
my patient teacher, my sacred charge
muse, conduit, library, translator, home
precious home
holder of the bright and eternal flame
(I am flame and the daughter of flame)
chalice (my cup runneth over) of enduring streams
renewing streams
Instrument of the singing winds
animate sphere of ash and dust
porous envelope of my ethereal spirit
sacred spirit
to me, my body speaks
I am all that I have ever been
I am one who sees

​

I am one who listens
to the speech of the earth, 
to rivers of vowels and stone consonants
to volcanic verbs and snow peaked nouns
the melodies of the heavens sway my limbs
and the rhythms of root-tip and tree-top direct my feet
I listen to what is intended and to what is chosen
I listen to the thrumming and tapping of night and day,
to the delicate texture of living and dying
I listen to time’s syncopated tempo
to the woven harmonies of moments across years

I am singing, a ragged and determined texture of existence
the journey - of breath and heartbeats across generations
I inhale my mothers and fathers, I chant my sons and daughters
I am one who listens, I am one who sings
I am one who sees

​

I am one who burns
a progeny of living fire sprung from a land aflame
I am a consuming fire
devouring hearts and lives
leaving the ashen carcass of memory in my wake
I am a cleansing fire
purifying a legacy of tainted blood
I am a crucible upon which long sundered 
peoples and nations are made whole

I am dancing, 
cascading across a landscape of shadow and light
I am a wave diving into itself, 
stirring the water’s current and under-current
I am the mountain’s feet, moving subtly 
to the slow deliberation of storm and seed
I am one who burns, I am one who dances
I am one who sees

​

I am one who seeks,
for the shape and scope of mystery
I am searching for the boundaries of the void
blind as I am, I feel out every connecting web,
shape like unto purpose, direction like unto hope
tone complimenting hue
unheralded and unrelenting, I weave light
from the threads of my own shadow and cast it 
as a cloak upon the shoulders of a living question

I am embracing all that I find
my loving and my hating, my
contractions and my expansions
every fear, every failure, every triumph
every searing moment spent living
I will turn away from nothing,
nothing that is, or has been, or will be
I gather to myself every thoughtless reaction
and every calculated choice
every heart driven foray into madness
every soul nourishing surrender into wisdom
I am all that I have ever been
I am one who seeks, I am one who embraces
I am one who sees

​

My precious, precious eyes
my dutiful guides, my holy windows
messengers, supplicants, explorers, mirrors, divine sanctuary
holder of the bright and eternal flame
(I am flame and the mother of flame)
source of the rivers of passion
drumbeat of consciousness
connoisseur of light
microcosm of the ether
through them, I contain a harvest of souls
I am all that I have ever seen
I am one who sees