At Makrigalos - clear water
all the way
wave shadows criss-cross
the sand below as
little fishes
dart by ankles
and we six women
danced sang our way
through Crete
retracing
the Goddess peoples
At Knossos
snakes still hiss
Her presence in the
crimson throne-room
flanked by gryphons
Her place of
epiphany.
In the
tholos tombs
of Phourni, Achladia
we grieved
for the ancient ones
and on my knees
threw dust over
my head to our
drum-throb.
Deep into the earth
we went
hand over hand
we sisters
clambered
down
down
and
down the vast womb
caves of
Scotinou
and Dicti.
Under
the full moon we
danced by water’s edge
blessed each other’s cupped
faces with seawater and pure love
gathered fragment shards of
ourselves at Vasiliki and Mohlos
and on Myrtos’ hilltop barefoot
on its purple stones we
sang to the sacred
mountains.
Vultures
wheeled above and
goat-bells tinkled
as we nestled into
the gnarled bosom of
five thousand years of living being
the great olive tree at Kavousi
old lady gently dozing
Then that final day at Zakros
palace temple we re-membered ourselves
my feet trod the same marble step to the
shrine rooms where once I’d placed offerings
my chest welled with the longing of it,
that arrival from Egypt
aeons ago
into the little harbour
sails full
of anticipation for
the learning that awaited me there.
This time bashful Caroline
with her dowsing rod
did the remembering for us
how we’d each lived, studied or
died there.
Reunited
in Goddess
She teased our hearts
open
and we re-membered
for She is here everywhere
Blessed be!
©Rachael Clyne, 2009
