SUMMONING A WILD WITCH-WIND

I tear up the old map and take another road.
I will set my feet on a shadowed lane
Perfumed by sweet verveine,
And kick off my shoes- I will feel
Barefoot my way on the tender green
And cut soles will bring me no greater pain
Than to the Mermaid who loved in vain:
Poor fool, who gave up her voice
And traded in her choice
In the glassy wilds of the endless sea
For bloodied footsteps;
Such a thing is not for me.

I will walk and perhaps at the end of this very day
I will pause at some cross-roads
And let down my hair.
I will hold wide my arms to summon
And become a weather-vane
Follow my tumbled wind-tugged mane
Down another way
And there…
Who knows?
Perhaps, someday; a welcome-home.
Nothing, and no pain, is foreordained.

Manuela Cardiga