Friday, August 16, 2019

ASTARTE in the Desert


With age,
I’ve learned to watch my feet.
I’ve become cautious of falls,
the honest frailty of bones,
and equally fragile,
the choices found at every crossroad.

Time, I’ve discovered, makes us bend -
we learn the habit of looking down.

I was blessedly nowhere,
At a truck stop off I-40 falling off the edge of the world.
A nameless little desert town,  disappearing
into a sweet black halcyon midnight

I was blessedly nowhere,
just between “here” and “there” after a summer rain,
the smell of diesel and chaparral, 
black reflecting  pools
on hot asphalt beneath my feet
when You
made your gracious, puddled descent:

     Luminous Orion,
     and faithful Sirius, the dog star,
     Antares, the Scorpion’s tail,
     The Pleiades dancing forever
     in Indra’s shining jewel net,
     And the Big Dipper
     offering, offering forever

Looking up, I heard you singing:

"Wait for me, Wait for me"


Lauren Raine
2005
from "Aphrodite in Brooklyn and Other Mythic Voices"

1 comment:

Patricia said...

Blessedly nowhere.... and thus, everywhere.
Thank you, Dear Lauren, for always inspiring.