Legacy

For Poets United Thursday Think Tank prompt #57: Loneliness
http://poetryblogroll.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Thursday%20Think%20Tank%20Revisited

Legacy

       I

In a dream, I stood
in swirling mist,
naked and alone.

Then saw my right hand
clasped in hand
of another woman
who stood naked and alone,

right hand clasped by another…

So on it went,
this line of descent,
down through
darkness of time

to that time
when first woman stood
naked and alone,
yearning for another woman

to talk to.

       II

Did not awaken sad, lonely.
Each must feel that certain
emptiness, price to be paid

for seeking the right
to dare to express
what abides deep within,
lies waiting to be found

in fertile ground of aloneness.

To touch ones own translucence,
to dance with that shy wild
entity is a gift, treasure
without price in knowing.

Hers is the hand that clasps
my own, and we are whole
together. She wears my face,
calls me by secret name,

and I call her, Soul.

Elizabeth Crawford  7/14/11

Process Notes: When I saw the prompt for today, several things danced through my head. An old poem that anchors a chapbook titled Singing Over The Bones, and was published in 2002. It centers around women’s myths and legends. Took it out and reread it. Then actually reshaped it and it became part I of this current piece. I had always thought there was more to it. Today the more came in the form of the second part of this writing. There is a third part, posted on this site in April of this last year. It was also written a while back and can be found here:
https://soulsmusic.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/within-the-poem/

It is titled All One, and can be found at the end of that day’s posting. I love it when the bits and pieces finally find one another and connect.