1/
Why stay here
in your little
dungeon?
If you really want
to be free,
make
every
thought
a thought of freedom.
Break your chains.
Tear down the walls.
Then walk the world a free woman.
2/
Somehow I kept climbing—
though tired,
hungry,
and weak.
Old, too.
At the top of the mountain,
I spread my outer robe on a rock to dry,
set down my staff and bowl,
took a deep breath,
and looked around.
It was windy up there.
As I was leaning back
against a large gray rock,
the darkness I had carried
up and down
a million mountains—
slipped off my shoulders
and swept itself away
on the wind.
-from: "The First Free Women: Poems Inspired by Early Buddhist Nuns"
Re-Imagined by Matt Weingast
 |
| Marie Bortolotto Artist |
In the City of Wild Roses
Oh, wild roses — aromatic devas
bewitchers of our exiled hearts
fill our empty cups with libations
of hope and beauty
invite us into the presence
of your luminous gaze
how we long to dance
on streets of devotion
far from the tumult of traffic
and trash, to dream again
beneath the scent
of your veiled petals
if we’re lucky
we may lose ourselves
in your prophetic eyes
remember how to see again
and, like you
let the wind blow through us
make peace with our thorns
chant into the ears of existence
and leave a trace of fragrance behind
© Marie Bortolotto 2024
© Marie Bortolotto 2024
