Red Oleander

 

Red Oleander

A salamander pale green as the new leaves of May

opens its orange lung-sac, brilliant, to the sun.

Three times at every pause!

In the breeze, red Oleander bends on her long stem, celebrating.

I am drawn down a quiet lane by the scent of jasmine

beguiling my heart, a path toward joy.

The dear Earth wafts up into me,

warm as fresh-baked bread,

filling my womb with Her love.

With my feet in the sand,

I pull Her love up into me,  to power my days.

Mother holds me tenderly, the mourning dove

in her palmetto-basket nest, giving, giving,

we Her babies, Her vast dream,

we Her future and Her now.

The black fin of a dolphin arises from the sea, ancient as days,

loving Her into the fathomless tomorrow.

Annelinde Metzner

Folly Beach

May 2010

Spring in Appalachia

She Heard Me

 

 

          
I sang all my songs to Mama Yemaya,
     our Mother the Sea,
     on that bracing and welcoming day at the beach.
How the great water glistened,
     each droplet responding, reflecting,
     rejoicing under our Father the Sun.
Pelicans dove straight down from on high.
Wee children hopped and squealed in the tide pools.
I sang and sang.
I think She heard me!
Our vast and unknowable Mother,
     Womb of All Life.
I think She heard me.

 

Annelinde Metzner

February 13, 2022