FEARS UNREASONABLE
by Ann Mortifee

What was it we gave each other that kept us here so long?
Was it joy or vision?
Passion, tenderness or truth?
Was it thoughtfulness and focused attention?
Did we give wonder, enchantment, blessed respite?
Did we offer other shores, or deeper waters?
Did we place our souls upon the altar of one another's heart and devote a song to exaltation?
Did we reach for each other's hand as we were led deeper into the night?
Did we bless the stars for our encounter?
Say thank-you to the moon?
Did we want each other's laughter to ring full among the hills?
Each other's tears to land on fertile soil?
Did we make a ritual of our loving?
A sanctuary of our home?
Did we reach ever deeper for the silent centre
The essential point
The joining?

We have been to war
You and I
The bloodshed of battle
The shout victorious
The pierce of defeat
All are ours
We made them together
We carved this face we have become
We trace our spiraled lineage back
Back to the forgotten fire of fury
'Burn or be undone'

And, as before, we fall
A human sacrifice
To the tragic savagery
Of fears unreasonable

 copyright Ann Mortifee 1996

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