My Women

© Meagan Chandler 2005

I dreamed we wandered distant shores and exciting new lands
And some small fortune fell into our hands
And so we invested in flowers.

One foot falling after another

Down a long earth-road we dance
Our arms full of colours no soul could resist
full of laughter and bare feet.
Body and heart intertwined
Twinkling minds and sparkling voices -
Womanly voices screaming and sighing,
crying and smiling
Deep earth digging and deep sea diving
Communing with community.
Restlessly peeling away painful layers
Closing in on the crick in a neck
And a sob lodged deep in a shinbone
And suddenly on the wings of music
A new world is unveiled,
sister watching sister mirror pure divinity
as her cells and thoughts come perfectly here and now.
And so we invest in flowers.

The pungent wood floor calls our feet.
We dance even in the silence between songs
Filling the air with the music of our breath
and the hiss of the floor where it caresses us.
Sunlight is seeping cold blue into this room
blinds tracing lines of heat under a stray toe.
The floor that catches our tears,
the walls absorbing the desperation in our heart cries.
The space, she cradles us.

And I step into the arena, lions unleashed -
Their terrifying hunt tumbling through my tight limbs,
Their breath-taking beauty capturing every cell.
My aching back is angry,
How to let go of the battle and learn to support instead?
Whole body pushing off the ground
My sacred water splashing into motion, thirsting for ever elusive softness -
Hard calves, hardened souls melting between earth and sky in a liquid dance.
Move like a river, root like a tree, BE like a mountain and SLOW DOWN.

Slipping into the deeper places now
in our circle
eyes soft and gently closing
bathing in delicious movement.

My women.

First our hair
wild cascades of trancing waterfalls in the night
And I catch a glimpse of my sunlight amidst my night sky women.

Me in her. That Maiden who is warrior and laughter all in one
she shrieks happy rainbows
and I would die happy in her strong arms
her full, beautiful belly pressed to mine, her vast eyes peering into my soul.
Tree spirit coursing through her long arms
reaching roots to leaf-tips to a sky of endless possibility and reflection.
She is discovering the vastness of her soul
even as she shakes with rage, even as she collapses
and pushing off the ground that tickles her feet
she always returns to play again.

And the Mother
me in her and her in me
she who walks with the serenity of utter caring
Dear mother hen who at last has settled into her skin
and with eyes shut in bliss
her body becomes pure joy, pure music
dripping with mature beauty that sparkles of faery jewels.
She is weaving magic with her swaying arms
and sending the spells on their way with a subtle flick of the hip.
And pushing off the ground that supplies her unshakeable strength
she is the laughter swelling up from my heart.


And I see me in her.
Wise Woman, friend, she who guards my soul
and with a mischievous twinkle
shows me the door that leads back to my self.
And with the strength of a true and lively teacher
she dares me - DARES ME to step through that door
dares me to cut my pride away with hips trembling like water balloons
dares me to surrender my narrow vision to the ground
in the face of the endless mystery that radiates from her deep eyes.
And pushing off the ground
I see the great earth pushing on through time
wide, powerful feet that tell endless stories
and send them shooting up her supple body
and out into the world -
wild, subtle, passionate, visual music!

My women, my sisters, my tribe, my mirrors.
I am naked before you in this space.
I am naked and crying and laughing
and I stand alone and utterly supported
and full of gratitude and full of love.
Our circle is Hope.
And the dance goes on, even in the silence in between.
And we continue to invest in flowers.