Fire and Ice

Audio of this poem read by the author with original soundtrack using Susan Alexjander‘s “Elements of Tone” – analog tones of the basic elements of life: H, He, O2, Ca, N, P, S, Si

Fire and Ice

How can space be so cold
that a comet moving hundreds of thousands
of miles per hour,
has a tail of ice?
And so hot
that stars burn white
for thousands of millions of years?

Don’t.  I’m waiting for the sky to answer.

Be patient if I forget my dreams.
My reception is filled with static.
It’s never quiet when I sleep.
Never calm once I’m awake.
I want to do all things in a sacred manner,
but I’m on a tight schedule.

Ghosts walk the streets, I’ve heard.
I can’t see them.  I’m still blind with stories
of what’s invisible.
But I sing to them anyway,
trying to coax open a portal
they can climb through
and go home.

How can a world be so crowded
and feel so desolate?
I have always taken anonymity for granted.
It startled me one day when
someone heard me, sang back
a tune they could only have heard me sing.
I ran away, not knowing what to do
with so much intimacy.
Scared of mirrors.

Someone told me the Ancestors
are not encumbered by the prejudices
they shouldered on their human journey.
To them, I am Briget’s daughter,
a healer, a poet, a tender of fire.
Sometime before I got here
I qualified for the position.

Must we wait till death to see
each other that way?
The loud mouth on the bus is Jupiter.
Take some of that with you
and the meeting you thought you were late for
won’t start on time. 

Adversity cannot dwell amidst beauty.
Adorn the altar of your Self with flowers,
and it will leave
to find a more hospitable environment.
Stop taking everything so personally.
Haven’t you noticed that every smile
is bigger than the face making it?

— Purple Hazel Green
2007