Page 17 - Jan Feb 2015

The River Cat
Bast took the guise of a woman
Her Khepri heart, protected but open She went down to meet the crocodiles, But found the Nile, and the Nile fell in love
He caressed her blackened foot with kisses And she opened a secret, so he could see The world between dark and light
The things he left behind in the world
They were still in him:
An onyx blade, sharpened, but unused
A diamond beneath the silt, roughly hewn Tumbled rocks that had crumbled to ash Fertility; jealousy – ripples of wounds And no way to make a song
She knelt beside him, and was still
His tide uncertain, receded, reflecting She saw herself in his face
And fell in love with what he showed her
Poetry Corner
She waded into him, and it hurt: Picking up things as she went, Cutting through the heaviness Lapping at the glittering calm Softening the decay, smoothing out beats of his heart
So that he opened, overflowed, and loved her more
Life teamed from him, broke the tethers
Defeating the crocodiles guarding his mouth
The ghosts hallowed in the marsh, howling
Little joys and deaths, lost antiheroes and heroines
Bast drank deeply, drowning inside his heart
And when the women came to wash they took her away Without saying goodbye
Without singing his song
by Rain Graves
Bast is the most commonly mentioned cat goddess o Ancient Egypt. She walks
the line between this world and others, keeping evil spirits at bay. She wearsa Khepri symbol on a collar, the Egyptian Scarab God, which is a powerful symbol that wards off evil. This poem tells a fictional story about Bast falling in love with the Nive River, if the were male instead of female. She sets out to heal him, but falls our ot love, as cats can be fickle, just as he falls for her completely in a flood of emotion. She sym- bolically rids him of worldly symbols for his pain, and becomes fruitful again.
You Can’t Have Everything
But you can have a tongued velvet kiss beneath tall cedars and oaks flushed with new leaves. You can have a graze of caress up your thigh, the soft brush of summer on honeyed skin. You can have muscles sleek with love and bliss in the buttery sun of morning. You can have birds singing in tree canopies, squirrels that leap, vibrant lobelia and petunias. You can have the smell of lavender and lemon thyme crushed between your fingers. You can have a window seat with pillows and books of poetry.
There are always your dreams of the writer’s studio that overlooks the ocean and delicious words to fill
cracks chiseled by disappointment.
You can’t clean the house with a twitch of your nose and will it to stay pristine,
but you can have pineapple chunks of sunshine through
your windows, bowls of rosy peaches, nectarines, ripe tomatoes. You can have a doe and two spotted fawns, a fox and her mate, blue jays, hummingbirds and coveys of quail.
You can’t make parents live forever, though for now, you can have the touch of love in your mother’s voice, the stories of your father’s triumphs that improve each year. You can’t force a loved one to stop using meth, but you can send love through sieved holes of darkness. You can’t rescue loved ones from their unhappiness, but you can wipe away their tears and remind them to drink in the fragrant beauty of earth and sky.
You can’t stop the effects of aging, but you can view heart-soaring mauves and blues of Eastern Sierras that sweep from desert expanse, camp beneath Mammoth pines. You can thrill with an intake of breath at the sight of a massive bear. The mind’s song may wind notes of want, yet you can sing gratitude for moments full of grace.
©2004 by Sher Lianne Christian
Star Kissed Shadows, Divining Poetry, and Sweet Tongue, Assorted Poetry and Music
He knows not how to sing it alone Restless, flooding the valley Showing her his goodness
But she does not come home
Rain Graves is a published and award winning author of Sci-fi/Fantasy and Horror poetry and fiction. She is also a priestess in the Temple of Isis and Fellowship of Isis, and serves her community at TOI HQ, Isis Oasis Sanctuary. http://www.raingraves.com
March/April 2015 The Wave 17