I Am Woman

I am woman.

These piercing eyes, cosmic windows,
the light therein the shimmer of distant stars.
If the intensity of my gaze is unsettling, 
do not turn from me.
Open to the winds of change blown in from the farthest reaches of eternity.

Dig deeper into the place where it stirs you.
You will meet your soul’s longing when you find the courage to stand naked in your entirety, 
before its vast revelation
with a silenced mind and open heart, 
even as it slays you in your surrender.

I am woman.

The tears that burn my eyes
and stain my cheeks release
the wailing pain, grief, fear, rejection, suffering, longing to be seen, held, allowed, accepted, witnessed, and revealed, 
of all who have drawn the breath of life.

I am woman.

You call me wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, teacher, healer, nurse, student, wayfarer, servant, master.
I do not seek.
The pulsing, vibrating, hum
coursing through my feet, legs, loins, belly, heart, chest, throat, and head,
is eternity in its unhurried, unsullied, 
unfurling dance.
I want nothing else.

I am woman.

I honor the responsibility that came
with the gift of my consciousness.
“One who conquers herself is greater than one who conquers a thousand in battle,” he said. 
My skin is not a boundary between me and you. Perception of self-and-other, self-and-divine, 
is self-made, until those mental chains
are Self-laid.

There is no “other” responsible
for righting mankind. 
The righting happens in every inhale, exhale.
It is cultivated in the field of silence within that underlies and births existence. 
It is open to those who surrender distraction and face the fear teeming beneath the surface.
To create a new harmony
requires each of us sing a new song.
Our trembling, bloodied children
plead in silent whispers. 

I am woman.

Witness the unseen in me,
the unseen in you.
Witness my roots extending into
the depths of their source,
my crown open to the heavens.
Feel my beating heart,
my arms for holding, 
compassion, and unconditionality,
even as they tremble in their knowing.
With the gift of my being
I kneel before you in service and surrender,
as my sword one-pointedly slays distortion.

I am woman.

Pause with me for an infinite breath. 
Let us join hands and kneel together
in sacred remembrance, 
in solemn vow to cleanse from our hands the blood of our ancestors, 
now, in this breath.
This is not for tomorrow.
Bring your sadness, grief, pain, fear, anger, hatred, doubt, cynicism, sarcasm, mistrust, misdeeds, disillusionment, denial, projection, assumption—ay, bring your guns, knives, and weapons of every kind. 

Let us place them on the alter of creation,
the crucible of alchemy, of holy remembrance, the silent place we fuel with feathered wings, 
so the unseen can burn it clean.
Our trembling bloodied children
look to us now.

I am woman.

There is a drum beating,
a heart beating,
deep within the belly of mankind.
Let us bow our heads, 
in silent, sacred remembrance
as our flesh reveals itself to us,
and the diamond halls
of quiet that echo in our cells,
beckon in the voice of the ancient.

I am woman.

These eyes that pierce your soul
are cosmic windows through which
winds of change now blow, 
the light therein the shimmer of distant stars.
I am you. You are me.
Our heart and drum no longer beat silently.