"soft as ash..."

"back in the Middle Ages,
they burned
unruly women
at the stake.
And out of the ashes
of their bones and flesh
rose the Enlightenment.”

- l. harris


i can see
them
when I
close my eyes

women with
hearts so full of
hope,
and minds
trained
on something
larger than the
smallness of
a single
lifetime

their questions
wake me from
apathy
and wrest a
a sorry comfort
from my tightly
fisted hands
hands too
soft from
having
done
so little,
taken too few steps
towards the
edge of
reason,
whispered when the
call was to
sing out --
and sing
loudly

they are the mothers
whose voices
echo through
history
asking us to
rise
when our daughters
are denied
the right to
say

"no."

they are the fathers,
the sisters,
the suffragists,
the saints
whose ashes
fall softly
still
shattering
light into a
thousand
reminders that
women have
burned for less
than this

these are the women
whose names
are etched in
the once stony hearts of
those who'd
have kept God
a Father
only

These are those
whose dreams
burn on --
an
eternal flame,
a
self-perpetuating
pyre
of light
rising higher
and higher as
self is tossed
into Love's bonfire
built from
the
fallen
deadwood
of
cruel
sentiments
that
enslaved
and
withheld

once
a flickering
then a blazing

gathering hopes
calling for courage
beckoning us to take
our place
with
Hagar
and Ruth,
Boaz,
Deborah,
Abigail,
Mary of Bethany,
of Concord,
and of Magdalene,
Jesus,
Dorcas,
Joan d'arc
Artemesia Gentileschi
and
Lucy Stone,
Lucretia Mott and
Harriet Tubman,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
Frederick Douglas,
and Mathilda Joslyn Gage,
Eddy and
Anthony,
Martin,
Gloria,
Theresa,
Maya,
Betty,
Nelson,
Hillary...

and from the ashes,
yes --
from the soft white ash of
grace
a cloud of witnesses,
soft as
the wings of a
dove,
blankets the
earth in a mantle of freedom
and equality,
balance of power
and
parity of worth,

human rights
based not on the consent of
one in barely tolerant
deference
to the
lesser
others

but
in recognition of
a deeper,
profound,
fundamental
spiritual
wholeness --

the right
to know,
and claim
the
All-in-allness
of our
Father
God
who is
Mother
also --

masculine
and feminine
in each,
and all

ash,
softly rising
to become
as stars in
a constellation of
promise
lighting
the way
for our
daughters --
and
our
sons.



"Prayer,
watching, and working,
combined with
self-immolation,
are God's gracious means
for accomplishing
whatever has been done
for the Christianization
and health of
mankind.”

~ Mary Baker G. Eddy