Worship

The ground she walks on

‘Mother Joy,’ that’s what 
Ibu Fera means 
A sister soul in whom
history is pooled
like fresh cold green water
ashimmer in eyes filled with mischief

‘The naughty nun’ she called herself
back then
After, having lived for men, and booze,
and cigarettes, and laughter 
After a light and floating life
in a city flashing with neon,
After she dematerialised,
went up in smoke
in front of their very eyes

In Myanmar meditating she
saw a parade of her past lovers
pass before her

She giggles as she tells me 
and I giggle too
Sister soul you
replanted yourself
You plugged yourself back into the ground

–––

Water water everywhere

She reads me tales of the Buddha
against a background of sacred music

But the rain on the rice paddies is louder
Feeding them, and in turn feeding us,
it also washes my brain
It’s like the pulse of a drum,
an inner beat
And also,
the memory of a life spent beneath a 
swirling disco ball

The rain is scouring me, it seems
Emptying me
And she, and it, 
ground me,
make me feel

earthbound and
that’s a good thing, 
for I have been spinning too long

Back in town
the rains come down again 
and this time I am 
unsheltered
Running to a café
my flip flips 
flip out
Waterlogged they
give up the ghost
And shrugging them off I am suddenly running 
barefoot through the streets
past shopfronts with their canung sari out front
These sidewalk offerings, 
these daily thanks of
woven coconut leaves holding
flowers, incense, nuts, sweets, 
now awash in the downpour

Another everyday miracle to be grateful for, 
this water holy

And so now I am running
barefoot through the streets
My soles touching the ground,
caressing it
Feeling the pull and the connection

Until at last, I stop to shop 
for new shoes 
And when he’s helped me choose, the storekeeper waves me off with a grateful
			Goodbye sister!
And I feel earthed
I am
in my element

---

Kindred spirit,
Mother Joy,
who plugged me back in

So that now I am illuminated,
bright as a glitter ball
but no longer spinning in Space
Landed back on Earth and
worshipping the ground
she and I walk on


Image credit: Peyman Shojaei on Unsplash