Gratitude for Water

Water will flow to you, lucky blessed Human
      straight down the mountain, clear, crisp,
      almost white with coldness on a July day.
      You can drink this!
Water will flow for you, fortunate one,
      over rocks worn beautiful with the
      eternal wearing-away,
      the rush and gurgle, the pounding of water
      unending, abundant, all-powerful.
      You can bathe in this!
Water will run through your arteries and veins,
      dear blessed one,
      making all your body sacred, connected,
      healed in itself, and in each other.
      You live because of this!
Here we are, Human, on our blue-green Water Planet,
      spinning through the galaxy, evolving over eons,
      because of Water, Water!
Touch Her to your forehead, your most sacred places,
      blessed one.
Greed must not come near Her!
Never attempt to control Her!
In every blade, in every vein,
 in every rock and stone, we share Her.
Do homage to our most beautiful, singing Mother,
Water!


Annelinde Metzner

Catskill Farm 

August 2011

Listen to Annelinde reading "Gratitude for Water" at our live concert, "Lady of Ten Thousand Names," on August 18, 2012.  (CDs and DVDs are available- click on the BUY tab. )

Homage to Ereshkigal

Dark sister, my blood, my DNA, my other half,
Remind me of all that I am!
Messenger from the other worlds that I so crave,
calling to me, calling to me...
Ground me!   Pull me downward,  inward,
Let me never scorn you,
you dear sister Goddess who represent
all that is hard, all that is besmeared, difficult, ugly,
unplanned, unforeseen, all that, deep down, is life itself.
Remind me of all that I am.
Hold me close within the dark Earth,  Ereshkigal,
close to you.

Annelinde Metzner

December 2009

Ereshkigal (pronounced ay-RESH-kee-gal) is the Sumerian Goddess of death and Queen of the Underworld. She is the daughter of Nammu, Goddess of the primordial sea, and Anu, God of the sky, and twin sister of Enki, God of the waters. Shortly after her birth, she was carried off by the dragon Kur to the Underworld, where she became its ruler. She is also said to be the older sister of Inanna, Goddess of love, war, and fertility, and she is mostly known from the myth of Inanna’s descent to the Underworld. Ereshkigal’s husband Gugalanna, the Bull of Heaven, had been killed after Inanna sent him to punish Gilgamesh, and Inanna went to the Underworld to pay her respects to her sister. Ereshkigal feared that Inanna was actually coming to take over the Underworld, and had her servant remove an article of Inanna’s clothing at each of the seven gates that she had to pass through. When she finally arrives naked at the foot of Ereshkigal’s throne, Ereshkigal strikes her sister dead and hangs her body from a hook behind her throne.

Medicine Wheel

Medicine Wheel at Mountain Light Sanctuary, photo by Susa Silvermarie

Stepping slowly around the Medicine Wheel, I gaze across,
breathing with each Sister there, my other Selves.

In the East, all wet and newly sprung,
just cracked from the shell in dewy wonder,
I gaze across the wheel: myself in the West.
How can it be? She knows so much,
too much, maybe, of self hurt and other’s hurt,
unexpected turns, no hope, no help, the darkness.

In the South, from my place of staunch will and fiery passion,
I gaze across the wheel: myself in the North.
Can this be me? I am cool, analytical,
I’ve learned something, I see two sides,
I weigh, I discern, I know.
My wisdom cools my ardor and gives me choice.

In the West, place of Death, place of the deep sea of fears,
the lurking shadows, weariness, pain and loss,
I gaze across the wheel:  myself in the East.
Baby girl child, wide-eyed with wonder, fresh.
How I love this girl, as I stand in my pain,
reliving Her, being Her, child Self!

In the North, cool abode of wisdom, hard-earned knowledge, awareness,
I gaze across the wheel: myself in the South.
How I love that dynamo, the me that demands, the fiery one, the sure one,
stirring up the world, her cauldron, sure of right from wrong.
How I love that woman of passion.

Stepping slowly around the Wheel,
how I love each Self there, my other Me,
each Sister on the other side, played out each day in my one soul.
We reach for each other, Sisters all,
me and me, and me and me,
and make one whole.




Annelinde Metzner
Mountain Light Sanctuary

July 14, 2012

One of those days

On one of those dappled August days
     back-lit by winter,
     blended of cool light and warm air,
my brother picks his way slowly
     along the river bank,
     unhurried,
     comparing the level to last year,
     the placement of stones,
     the blend of colors on this bank of flowers,
     the number and size of fish.
I doze while I wait for his return.

Next morning, strewn over the wooden table,
     six or seven sketches:
     the wood stove, the bricks, the gas lamp,
     the worn places in the ceiling paint.
My heart leaps.
I weep.
My brother, my blood,
walker, painter,
kin.

Annelinde Metzner
Catskill Farm
August 24, 1997

My brother Dick Metzner