Song for Going to the Water, A Cherokee Poem & Moondancing by Marion

I took this photo last night while outside moonbathing under the full moon and admiring the jet stream along side it. I brought my largest cup and filled it until it overflowed with moonlight. I drank it, then howled at the moon. I did. Really.

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Song for Going to the Water
~Cherokee Poem

If your heart is not well,
If your spirit is not well,
These words may help you.

Wake in the hour
just before dawn.
Wake in the hours
before first light.
Wake when the animals of the night
have ended their songs,
when the animals of the day
have not yet begun their songs.

Walk without words.
Follow the path
that leads to the stream.

Then, as the first light
touches the stream,
bend to the water,
speak these words:

"Long Person, I come to ask your help."

Then hold up
a cup of that water
and drink the dawn.

~From an old high school Literature Book.

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I wrote this full moon poem in July of 2009 for my friend, Erin.

MOONDANCING
By Marion

There was I wearing just dragonflies
in my untamed, burgundy hair.
She all glistening, robed only in river silt,
shining just as fair.
Our skin glowing uncannily,
lit from within and without,
arms outstretched, heads thrown back
as we twirled and pranced about.
Faces upturned, filled with rapture as
round and round we whirled---
lost in the moonlady’s ecstasy,
entranced in our own dream-world.

Some said it were fairies dancing
up under the stars that night---
Crazed and drunk from the river reflecting
the full moon’s shimmering light.
But me and my friend knew better,
t’was our spirits’ mystical meeting,
celebrating the poetry of rivers and
the feel of the full moon’s heart beating.

7/7/09