LABYRINTH

Come, it is a miracle!

A tortuous passage, yet clearly marked,

That recalls our Journey.

The journey that began in a time/place when/where

We and they and all of space-time were together in one tiny center,

All potentiality.

Winding toward the center,

Mundane orientation falls away.

The Minotaur waits to devour dark daily habits.

A new realm reached, I'm delivered to my own sacred story,

Circling out like Ariadne's thread,

Secrets totally revealed.

From the still point at center,

All my relations gather round and dance,

Rippling out like water from the place through which

I have fallen into dark radiance.

Blinded, now I see clearly what to leave behind

 For the moment, I rest safe. Secure in Now.

The moment delivers me back to awareness

 Of sweet Earth's support, bearing me all my life.

Here I undertake to pursue the outward path,

Lightly, dancing unburdened as I return,

Prepared to meet the challenge that waits:

To serve the immense Journey.

So my book is at the publisher's. In the last 2 weeks, I've added an introduction, dedication, acknowledgements, an epilogue. Oh, and a new title. It's so exciting I'm having a hard time getting to sleep at night.

The above poem introduces the Introduction :) The book's title has been Passage: Illness as Initiation. Now it's Illness as Initiation: An Unlikely Heroine's Journey. For better or worse, I decided there had been too many Passage titles in the last few years. The labyrinth is a foundational image for the work.