“Take down the sky each night.” Kamsin
“Tapestry”
My life is a tapestry woven together,
The thread coming from far off places
Weaving its history
Subtly into that of my own.
No year is new, disjointed from the last
For all days flow together like water droplets into a river.
January 1st being simply a marker of time;
A waterfall over which the droplets flow on their journey to their end.
Will they evaporate?
Transform into clouds?
Rain down on earth?
Merge into a new river?
Get trapped in a puddle?
The journey does not cease just because the wind stops blowing.
Even if the river were to dry up, the water would have had to go somewhere.
The threads hang on the wall
A vivid colour display.
“There she weaves by night and day
A magic web with colours gay.
She has heard a whisper say,
A curse is on her if she stay….
And moving through the mirror clear
That hangs before her all the year,
Shadows of the world appear.
…
She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces through the room,
She saw the water lily bloom….”
I do not look into a mirror to see reality.
I have traveled far from home
And felt the shock of cultures other.
By looking with my own eyes,
It was the death of me as well.
For I am different now,
Marked,
Changed.
I too cannot return to the way I saw the world before.
The world did not change, it was I who has changed.
The world has opened its mouth and devoured me.
With sword in hand, I came limping home.
Head held high.
Demons riding my ass.
And here I sit
At water’s edge,
At mountain’s base,
Under the shade of a majestic evergreen.
2008.
A new year.
My word, code, mantra, talisman:
b e l i e v e
Soon to be tattooed in white ink –
The amulet on my left wrist
For all time:
B e l i e v e.
The word of today.
The word whispered mere days ago:
“Believe Skye
…
BELIEVE.”
1st photo: Indian tapestry
2nd photo: Moon over desert, Middle East
Quote from “The Lady of Shalott” by Tennyson
Kamsin's complete poem can be read at:
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