Warm Blue Cave

author’s note:

I am a part of all that I have met.
                    -- Alfred Lord Tennyson

I would say: all that I have met is a part of me.


WARM BLUE CAVE

The world welcomed me
with closed doors
and hard crows--

as a result,
I came to believe any open door
would slam shut
if I approached

and even the soft blue bird
might peck my eyes out.

But also as a result
of this break
I had great feeling for
all the fractured mirrors--
I wanted to patch us all.

However...
with such pain around me
I felt the need to crawl
into a cave so blue
that I'd stay warm
no matter how cold
the air outside might blow.

And I did crawl.
And I did find
a better coat--
a garment with the strength
of ages.  I found
what belonged to me--
what I could not lose.
Even so

I felt I had not yet
found enough.  But change
demands change

so I left and when I left
I walked out on two feet
instead of four.  I walked

out and around,
but no matter what I saw
ever so often, I could look down
and feel
that warm blue cave
deep in my belly--

warm enough for me
to keep my arms open

long enough for the birds
to land...and none of them
have tried to peck out my eyes

yet.

But I trust
that I'm now strong enough
to keep my empty hands outstretched--
to keep my full hands uncoiled

and though I feared
the wounded birds
would weigh me down
instead, they seem
to have lifted me up.

Even more to my surprise:
we must be of
the same feather, because
I can hear their echoes
deep within me
whenever I descend
to open that door
to my warm blue world.

© 2012, Michael R. Patton
searching for the new mythology