‘Emerging’ – transformation, birth, vitality…
After taking a couple of weeks off to welcome and honor the birth of another new soul into our family, I am finally starting to get back in the studio 🙂
I thought I would ease myself in with some charcoal & pastel drawing this morning, something I have been meaning to do for some time.
Emerging is about the transformation I have undergone over the last few weeks, purposefully staying away from all drawing and painting, letting old things fall away and new potential rise up from the depths. I now finally feel like I am re-emerging, from somewhere deep within, having slumbered deeply with the stones in the earth….bringing new treasures and a deeper vitality to real-ise and express in the world.
I would also like to share with you one of my favorite poems that this drawing reminded me of: The Return by Geneen Marie Haugen.
“Some day, if you are lucky,
you’ll return from a thunderous journey
trailing snake scales, wing fragments
and the musk of Earth and moon.
Eyes will examine you for signs
of damage, or change
and you, too, will wonder
if your skin shows traces
of fur, or leaves,
if thrushes have built a nest
of your hair, if Andromeda
burns from your eyes.
Do not be surprised by prickly questions
from those who barely inhabit
their own fleeting lives, who barely taste
their own possibility, who barely dream.
If your hands are empty, treasureless,
if your toes have not grown claws,
if your obedient voice has not
become a wild cry, a howl,
you will reassure them. We warned you,
they might declare, there is nothing else,
no point, no meaning, no mystery at all,
just this frantic waiting to die.
And yet, they tremble, mute,
afraid you’ve returned without sweet
elixir for unspeakable thirst, without
a fluent dance or holy language
to teach them, without a compass
bearing to a forgotten border where
no one crosses without weeping
for the terrible beauty of galaxies
and granite and bone. They tremble,
hoping your lips hold a secret,
that the song your body now sings
will redeem them, yet they fear
your secret is dangerous, shattering,
and once it flies from your astonished
mouth, they–like you–must disintegrate
before unfolding tremulous wings.”
Blessings to you all on this Monday 🙂
Gabrielle x
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