NA:DI:A - She of the Bones

From the tear, movement begins – love’s raw nerve feels its way forward in the dark.

A tear runs down his cheek. He is sleeping.
She sees it.
She is seized by thirst
and crawls toward him
to drink from his eye.

What could he be dreaming
that brings forth such a tear?

When the Bone Woman rises to the surface,
she carries a message:
to love.

Only when stripped
of every feather, hook and blade
can he pull the Bone Woman to his side
and let her lie beside him
drinking his tears.

Her spirit was called
by his weeping.

The gateway to the underworld
is a waterfall of tears.

Such a tear can only be heard
by a heart that still burns warm.

Without his tears,
she would never become more than bones.
Without the tears,
he would never awaken.

The dreamer’s tear comes
when the would-be lover dares to admit
he is in pain
and begins to bind his wounds.

When he realizes
he has broken himself.
Has lost his faith.
Is cut off
from the nourishing, vital flow.

He weeps because he is lonely.
Suddenly, he longs for that place.

And now
the man is on his path to healing.

He makes his own medicine.
He takes on the task
of nourishing the others.

Through his tears,
he begins to create.

It is not enough to love.
Not enough
to avoid becoming a burden to the Other.
Not enough to be a support
or to always be there for everyone else.

The true goal is to gain knowledge.

The only way
a man can become a wise man
is to be taught
by the Bone Woman.

She waits
for that one tear
that says:

“I admit that I am wounded.”

This admission
feeds her.
It is the first step.

We have all made the mistake
of believing another person
could heal us,
could fill our lives
with meaning and excitement.

It takes time to realize:
it is not so.

We keep searching
for that soft, wounded point
outside ourselves –
instead of inside.

When a man
looks his own tenderness in the eye –
the tear comes on its own.

And his loyalty
emerges stronger,
clearer.

He is healed.
He is no longer lonely.
He is no longer cut off
from his deeper self.

He no longer needs the woman
as his painkiller.