La Loba

La Loba,
Wolf Woman,
stirs and mutters
in the farther reaches
of my soul.

She is waking.
My grief has wakened her
from her long sleep.

The last time
I heard her voice,
I lived in
Wild Women territory,
where our spirit was
at home.

When I left
that power place,
and moved to this
red-necked
mill valley,
cultural wasteland,
she curled up
in disgust,
went to sleep
and has not
been heard from
for eleven years.

Now she is grumbling
and moving about
in the inner chambers.

She has something
to tell me
that I already know.
My spirit
has been caged
for too long
a season.
I have been settling
for too little,
out of fear
of what will happen
if I demand
something beyond
my comfort zone.

Every time this happens,
she starts
banging on the bars,
at first quietly,
then louder,
more insistently,
until finally
she makes
such a clamor
I must listen.

La Loba: Speak.

"Why do you stuff
your life
and your needs
into too-small
containers?
Having known
freedom
and joy,
what keeps you here,
clinging to
perceived
security,
when you know there is
none to be had?
You can feel
change
is coming,
and change requires
courage,
trust,
and one long leap.
You already know this.
And you know
the reward
for such a leap
is joy.
Why do you walk
these tame pathways,
when you belong,
heart and soul,
to the wild?"