Tuesday, May 4, 2021

EARTH SHAMAN II



Along the medicine path, 
leaving no footprints,
the shaman goes.
An owl on a low branch,
does not ask "who
goes there?"
He already knows.

Listen to this ancient tree.
What truths does she know
of tomorrow?
That keening you hear
is the song of Mother Earth,
in all her sorrow.

Wounded healers:
do we now have
more wounds than
we have skin?
Have we forgotten
everything struggling
so hard to live
with us
is kin?

For so long
we have been
being dreamed.
Earth begs us to awaken;
to reassure the wild world
that it will not be
forsaken.

What is the song of
a suffering earth?
Birds falling
from the sky;
whales making
their long journeys,
as they slowly starve
and die.

 Tend the wounds,
the shaman drums
within the forest deep;
on his perch the
 oracle owl warns
Don't go back to sleep.

Hurry, for our
mysterious guide
is hastening out of sight.
See how his cloak
is swirling,
in midnight's eerie
light.


Asecond riff on a shaman poem I wrote some years ago. For Brendan's challenge at earthweal: Wounded Healer: Songs of the Earth Shaman

10 comments:

  1. Such a sad song Sherry, but I was stirred by your final warning:

    'on his perch the
    oracle owl warns
    Don't go back to sleep.'

    I can almost see the Shaman, vanishing out of sight...

    We must hurry!

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  2. Very atmospheric! And yes sad as well.

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  3. The medicine of earth is the dream awakened: that jolt in human catatonia which shakes us alert to our wrongs, finally. The forest as restorer of the human mind to its right sense. Amen.

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  4. I enjoyed the pace, rhythm and rhyming of this poem, Sherry; I felt like I was walking along the medicine path, listening to the owl and the keening song of Mother Earth. These lines are so sad:
    ‘What is the song of
    a suffering earth?
    Birds falling
    from the sky;
    whales making
    their long journeys,
    as they slowly starve
    and die.’

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  5. Beautifully expressed and deep with feeling, Sherry. I really like this piece. We should all be in a state of sorrow for our home and our own continuance.

    Elizabeth

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  6. Written in you true voice in harmony with the earth. The image of birds falling from sky makes me cry. Tend the wounds, the earth needs a healing balm. Shamans often are born from near death experiences. I wonder if the earth is having a NDE. One wonders with all the signs on display.

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  7. I do wonder where that guide is leading~

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  8. Beautifully written Sherry, it's as if the words flow directly from that quiet voice within xxx

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  9. do we now have
    more wounds than
    we have skin?
    powerful words,Sherry. I love the way you always listen so carefully to the earth.

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  10. I seem to have lost my previous comment - hope it does not show up double.
    beyond the heartbreak and sadness of this moment you offer hope - that there is still time to follow. This poem has such a wonderful walking rhythm taking us on that medicine walk with you. And I do so love a midnight forest walk.

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