A Garland of Love and Resistance, for You

SWEET LOVERS
Ladinsky's Title: "Like a Life-Giving Sun"

You could become a great horseman

And help free yourself and this world

Though only if you and prayer become sweet
Lovers.

It is a naive man who thinks we are not
Engaged in a fierce battle,

For I see and hear brave foot soldiers
All around me going mad,

Falling on the ground in excruciating pain.

You could become a victorious horseman

And carry your heart through this world
Like a life-giving sun

Though only if you and God become sweet
Lovers!

—Hafiz, rendered by Daniel Ladinsky

 

Soul Friend,

My days are strung with so many glinting, lovecrafted treasures. It's impossible not to want to share such riches. I have garlands and garlands I'd like to drape around your neck!

But, also, I don't want to weigh you down! ;) I know you have places to go, things to do. Believe me, I'm doing my best to be selective.

Note this little jewel:

A Merlin hawk showed up again last night. Do you remember that magic crashing into my window, before I'd left home?

I was standing on the steps —liminal space—sharing with a kind Irish-Peruvian man about the sexual harassment I'd experienced in the souks the other day. He was really tuned in. "I'm sorry you experienced that," he said. Just then the hawk flew right over us. Magic. Healing in community, like what I'd written about yesterday.  I'd questioned whether or not to share this experience with him. I didn't want his sense of this place to be sullied, too. Plus, it felt vulnerable to share how it had affected me.

But Merlin magic is countering my Inner Critic. And his kin seem to be networked across the globe! And without the internet! How about that.

And here's a plush ruby for you:

I went to the public baths yesterday. Oh my. (Don't get me wrong, I loved my private hammam experience, but this was a whole other gift). Warm tiled rooms of Moroccan women bathing together. Little girls, teenagers, young mothers, middle-aged mothers, an old lady rolling in with a wheelchair. Many different bodies. Many sizes and shapes and skin tones. Some wore underwear, but most were completely naked. And all, unashamed.

Mothers washed daughters. Daughters washed mothers. Girlfriends lay completely vulnerable before one another, for washing and exfoliation. And smiles. And laughter. And, probably, gossip.

I thought, I can hardly imagine being with my girlfriends like this, or my daughter. I did bathe my mother each week for her last two years (and cherished that opportunity), but with all of my clothes on.

American women have been taught that our bodies are forms of competition with one another, not connection. Or that they are proof to ourselves and others of our discipline and right living, not a living sacred text both reflecting and secreting who we are. As I took it all in, I realized how no matter how much I've tried to extricate myself from that, I am not yet free.

In the (un)dressing area, high up, between wall and ceiling, on all four walls of the room were hung large mirrors, reflecting down to our benches. I watched as two young women entered and started undressing. With eagerness, it seemed, as they unselfconsciously undressed, both women lifted their eyes to mirror above, to watch their bodies being revealed. Then, looks of obvious satisfaction, even savoring, in what they saw (neither of them conformative to American beauty standards) rested on their faces.

That's when I noticed all the mirrors, strategically placed. So none of us could miss that view of how our Lover sees us.

#Goals.

And, well, speaking of garlands . . .  on the day of the inauguration I saw this (see picture that goes with this entry on the Blog page):
 

Look familiar to you? It's the garland of resistance, worn by Justice Kentaji Brown Jackson. You can read more about it here.

Soul Friend, don't leave the house today without donning your own garland of love and resistance. You could become a great horseman, And help free yourself and this world.

In Love, and for Love,