LEGENDS OF EVERY WOMAN

No mere mortal, I am a teardrop of the Sun,
a spirit, ka, ghost, shade, fragile holy, unholy one.
Everywoman, crying from this ocean-washed shell.
Fleeing, united, threatened, plagued by hell.

Eve, Semiramis, Isis, Fortuna, Indrani, Cybelle,
Ceres, Cessair, Nimue, Helen, Garbo, Maybelle,
Bodicea, Bathsheba, Antigone, Cleopatra, Eurydice,
washed up, washed out, embittered, empowered me.

Often I've still'd the tongue of many a great man,
and loosened it at the Tower of Babel again.
In hanging gardens wept, or by a Sun god slept;
crawled back to you again, or no longer kept.

Men have come to worship my body or mind
as soulmate, soul lover, precious, a rare find.
Some even sought to be father of my baby.
Mea Domina, My Lady, Madonna, fair lady.

Always there was One of my choosing,
always in these centuries of losing.
Lost to me over and over, again and again.
even with pain, somewhat, I still gain.

I refuse to be herded, treated like the rabble,
even as chaos turns our other words to babble.
So from One, crave such a simple word
not hoarded from me, and too seldom heard.

Speak, Phoenix, my World, Sun, king, great Nimrod,
keykeeper, ruler, emperor, great and lesser god!
Say you, Neptune, Merlin, Mars to my Venus;
why still delight in holding back words to please us?

(c) 2003 Rennie Lorca