The Change
Lynda Allen
Why do we not call it what it is?
Grief.
Is it a loss too deep, too fundamental to who we are,
to call it by name, to look directly at it?
Instead we try to mitigate it,
we try to medicate it,
we try to moderate it.
Why do we not simply mourn it?
Why do we not wail, and weep, and gnash our teeth?
They hid us in the red tent when first the process began.
We learned the hiding so well,
that we hide ourselves again as it comes to a close.
We speak of it only in whispers and with dread.
Let us instead honor the passing
and celebrate the gifts that came into being through us.
Let us mourn the loss of our ability to bring forth life,
deep, heartrending mourning,
for the loss is profound.
Let us also dance and rejoice in reflection upon the life we gave birth to,
the glorious miraculous movements of the Universe
that created a womb of life within our sacred vessels.
Let us celebrate the girl, who bloomed into woman,
who transforms now into elder.
Let us sing our ceremony of celebration and loss into the loving arms of the wind
that it may be carried like a prayer of gratitude to the heavens.
As I grieve and release, let my loss now create a new womb within.
Let the Universe continue its glorious dance within this vessel,
transforming my heart, my body, my Spirit,
until my very being becomes
the womb of wisdom,
the womb of compassion,
the womb of love,
the womb of joyful creation.
New life born again through me.
Lynda Allen
Why do we not call it what it is?
Grief.
Is it a loss too deep, too fundamental to who we are,
to call it by name, to look directly at it?
Instead we try to mitigate it,
we try to medicate it,
we try to moderate it.
Why do we not simply mourn it?
Why do we not wail, and weep, and gnash our teeth?
They hid us in the red tent when first the process began.
We learned the hiding so well,
that we hide ourselves again as it comes to a close.
We speak of it only in whispers and with dread.
Let us instead honor the passing
and celebrate the gifts that came into being through us.
Let us mourn the loss of our ability to bring forth life,
deep, heartrending mourning,
for the loss is profound.
Let us also dance and rejoice in reflection upon the life we gave birth to,
the glorious miraculous movements of the Universe
that created a womb of life within our sacred vessels.
Let us celebrate the girl, who bloomed into woman,
who transforms now into elder.
Let us sing our ceremony of celebration and loss into the loving arms of the wind
that it may be carried like a prayer of gratitude to the heavens.
As I grieve and release, let my loss now create a new womb within.
Let the Universe continue its glorious dance within this vessel,
transforming my heart, my body, my Spirit,
until my very being becomes
the womb of wisdom,
the womb of compassion,
the womb of love,
the womb of joyful creation.
New life born again through me.
