A Woman Set Free

And so today, which is a momentous day for me- I want to pay tribute to the beauty that is women. I pay tribute to you. Your too far away for me to bake you a chocolate layer cake, so please settle for a couple of poems that I dusted off that celebrate our gender, and a new one too: one that I wrote with you all in my mind and heart.

She (part one)

She came from the earth
She came from the fire
She came from the water

She came

She carries
the whispering winds of ancient empires
She carries
the raging winds of ravished dynasties

She carries

She is body
She is intellect
She is spirit
She is the voice

She is

She holds the oceans
She holds all nations
She holds infinite creation

She holds

Me

She (part two)

She is there,
In love affairs and sighing oceans.
Her whispered sweet nothings, hug the hips of pine dressed mountains.

She has held in her womb the gift of nations- given birth to the rings of Saturn.
She has placed the moon in the night sky
Of Babylon and Byzantium.

She has pushed countless ships
Across the waters of history.
And you swear that it is his story-
but it is hers.

She has given you philosophy and theology,
Yet- never laid claim to the generations
She has weaned and set free.

You swear that you have seen-
Her silhouette- a shadow on the ceilings
of temples and Gothic cathedrals
and reflecting
from the holy waters of the Jordan

And you swear that you have prayed to her
for comfort
for compassion
for she
is love.

For the women I love…

We are all Bloated Ladies

Less graceful than we imagined

we pass mirrors with disbelief and wonder-

find our reflections stretching, sagging, graying.

We wear our wear and tear and silver streaked hair

like elaborately embroidered A’s upon us. Let us claim this A!

We are all bloated ladies.

Ladies, be bloated by life… We have grown immensely-

Given birth to children and brilliant ideas.

We have built bridges between lands, people, ideas and beliefs.

Ladies come- sit at my table and let me feed you from my soul. Let me remind you that you have moved the waters,

calmed restless oceans, gathered the food that has fed a hungry nation and turned notions into awe-inspiring actions.

Let me remind you that you have created sanctuary and peace in the hearts of many.

Let me remind you that your beauty is not skin deep, but your skin is lovely non-the-less.

We are travelers, learners, teachers, partners.

We are givers, nurturers, lovers, mothers.

We are sisters.

--
Jaclyn Weber
The midwive's apprentice