I have been the night for so many.
I bring them into shadow lands
so they may let go
and descend.
I’ve been a gatekeeper
for the elevator
to the underworld,
like a daughter of Hela
or Persephone.
The price to enter
is only pride and vanity,
and the clutching of hands
that cling to life.
I invite all to disembark
into darkness,
to the very bottom of the pit.
Oh, the flailing attempts
to throw off the cloak
of the void.
How the fear of night
creates the fight,
the gnashing of teeth
against flesh, the struggle
against ushering spirits
perceived as hungry ghosts,
the ripping of oneself
into pieces.
Yet I endure the injuries
to keep beckoning souls
to the end of the fall
where surrender happens.
For that is where God
can enter, and so begins
the return of the light.
Bless the Shadow Keepers
and Guardians of the Night.
For death must come
for life to be born.
And bless the Keepers
of the Light,
for holding safe the hope
for all existences,
the promise of new life.
Copyright © 2021, Sheyorah Naify
Art: Persephone, the Eternal Maiden by Leah Flippen.
Like this:
Like Loading...