For Lilith

For We Write Poems poetry prompt: We Wordle #10 http://wewritepoems.wordpress.com/

Contributors and their words:

Rosyln:sanctuary, soul, knowing
Debi Swim: spiral, vapor, carapace
Barbara: honeysuckle, rain, year
Jules: eggshells, drums, demons
Marian: roots, chrysalis, wings
Nicole: seafoam, hookah, witches
Abby: angels, blue, truth
Irene: curvature, cathedral, votives
Benjamin: filament, cocoon, stoic
Elizabeth: fortune, inky, nurture
Barbara (poem 2): nightmares, kimono, geisha
De: tangles, bloom, stripes

For Lilith

She found sanctuary in my soul,
her knowing a spiraling carapace
which protected both of us.

Some might name her a hookah
vapor, a witch of demonic roots
and tangled inky nightmares.

Perhaps a geisha, seductive curvature
wrapped in blue silken kimono, no more
than false filament of nurture and safety.

Certainly not a cathedral statue accompanied
by angel wings, burning votive candles
blooming at her feet, nor gift on a half shell

riding sea foam into any man’s erotic wishes.
No. To me, she is none of these. She is woman
standing alone. Stoic in chrysalis of owned

truth as heavy as sweet scent of honeysuckle
that lingers long after rain. Has remained
for years the personal stripe of my fortune.

Mentor, healer, sister, and friend, her
heartbeat a constant drumming echo
within our cocoon of shared existence.

Elizabeth Crawford  3/17/14

Notes: There are three distinct pieces to the mythology of Lilith. In Sumerian culture, she was a high priestess who lived in the Tree of Life and was forced to escape her home when the Queen of Heaven decided to chop down the tree to use for her throne and bed, sending her consort to eradicate its inhabitants (some say that was Gilgamesh). About 2000 years later, she appears as Adam’s first wife who rebels against an inferior position, becoming a demon who, jealous of Adam (meaning all men), steals his children, killing them or turning them into changelings. Centuries later, she is once again mentioned in the Kabbalah, where she is the daughter of the devil when the prince of daylight comes to battle with the prince of darkness. Instead, he marries Lilith and brings her up into the light where “she begins to heal all that had once been destroyed.”  Mythology gives birth to archetypes (models of behavior). Lilith has long been one of mine. This is an incredibly brief synopsis of a day long seminar I used to teach which explained why I believe her to be an archetype worth investigation.

My last post was a bit of story about a modern day Lilith. It wasn’t completely satisfying to me, so when I posted it, I decided (sight unseen) that maybe I could do a much better job with this upcoming larger wordle. Thirty-six words, and amazingly I used them all, cheating a bit by dropping the egg in eggshells.

The image is the same one I used in yesterday’s post. A polymer clay stone I made and then found a shadowy female figure reclining in semi-darkness. When I saw her, I immediately named her Lilith.