Iconoclasts: Justice Seekers and Image Breakers

One of my favorite words in the English language, iconoclast, actually derives from Greek: eikon--image + klastes--breaker. In the early days the word referred to someone who destroyed religious sculptures and paintings. An iconoclast today is a bold thinker who attacks settled beliefs or institutions. In short, a rebel who recognizes when change needs to occur for the greater good.

Ah, change. It isn't easy for any of us, especially if we are devoted to the status quo. Even if we believe in change that would grant growth, justice and fairness for the nation as a whole, we still fear the concomitant problems that could arise from it. In particular, we fear our place in society that might change, along with long-held beliefs. Our country is traversing that ground right now as we remove images of the Confederacy.

And we're not alone. This country was founded on altering the status quo of British citizens colonizing America. We will never cease to remember that on November 19, 1863 iconoclast Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address reminded us that change would be the only way to keep the nation together. In the early 1900s iconoclasts like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony paved the way for voting rights for women. In 1869  Dr. Susan Smith McKinney Steward became the first female physician in New York, a pioneer who helped to found the Equal Suffrage League in Brooklyn. Skip over to 1854 when Elizabeth Jennings predated Rosa Parks (1955) when she refused to dismount a streetcar.

And let's not forget the generation that led the Civil Rights movement, the protests against the Viet Nam War, the ongoing fight for immigrants' rights, the Native American fight for environmental and economic justice--most recently the Dakota Access Pipeline that threatened not only their water supply but also ancient sacred grounds. Stronger than ever now are the Me,Too movement for justice for women sexually abused, the LGBTQ movement for the right to be who you are, to love whomever you choose, and the Black Lives Matter movement for racial justice in every arena of our lives.

Iconoclasts of the 60s and 70s rebelled against the establishment. Evidence of it in the Civil Rights and Viet Nam eras could be seen in the music, art, fashion, and in behavior that focused on protests and love fests. I was a teenager then, and I loved this movement, wanted to be part of it.

"I think it's time we stop, children, watch that sound, everybody look what's goin' down....Young people speaking their minds, gettin' so much resistance from behind." Thank you, Buffalo Springfield. Rockers represented the youth at that time through rebel music, and how they did inspire a whole generation!

But, do you think it was easy for these people to risk everything for what they believed was right? Although in times of conflict we may feel uncomfortable or threatened,  years down the road when the dust has settled, we do accept change as it slowly becomes the new status quo. The road to change, however, is always paved with censure, disparaging scorn, and too often sacrifice and loss of life. The question is, who would risk so much to lead us to change, and why in the world would they do that? Iconoclasts would, and here's why.

Gregory Berns, professor of economics and distinguished chair of neuroeconomics at Emory University, has an interesting answer to that question. "Iconoclasts are individuals who do things that others say can't be done." Berns says that iconoclasts see things differently from other people; they're skilled at handling failure, especially fear of the unknown. They don't wait around for someone else to initiate necessary changes. They jump right in.

We all know the majority of us don't jump right in, yet we need iconoclasts to keep us from clinging to destructive images and institutions that aren't working for us or for the nation as a whole. So, if most of us will never be one of those selfless, risk-taking iconoclasts, what part can we play?

Without analyzing the psychology behind our fears, what we actually can do is stay abreast of the news--both sides of it, and remember the US Constitution and Bill of Rights that guarantee life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all of us. Breaking images--symbols of what we believe represent each of us as individuals, can lead to a positive metamorphosis that brings more freedom and contentment than we've ever known. When we do something good for someone else, our old brains think we're doing it for ourselves. Never forget, We the People.

The Absurd Non Sequitur: School in the Midst of Covid

More than 3,660,300 people in the United States have been infected with coronavirus and at least 139,100 people have died at the time of the writing of this post. The White House says it is safe for children to return to brick and mortar type education. Ask any public school educator and you will hear the cry of an absurd--and I might add insane, example of a non sequitur--the description we use for a statement that does not follow logically from the facts.

This post will be short and to the point. What follows are the recent statements made from the White House Rose Garden:

• Trump says children and parents are dying from the trauma of not going back to school.

False. No one is dying from not being in school. Kids and adults have a greater chance of  getting sick and dying if they go to school, even with masks and social distancing.

• Mrs. Mike Pence says that kids are struggling...they need their friends, teachers, and routine.

 Good alternatives through various media sources are available for the short term, every public school district is supplying laptops and hot spots for students currently  without them. Students can easily interact with friends through ZOOM, Face Time, What's App, texts and emails.

• Mike Pence says many children need mental services that they can receive only at school.

Many public schools have counselors but not psychologists. Their job is so inundated  with scheduling that, although they would prefer it, they rarely have time to see kids with  emotional needs.  Special education students may receive additional help. This has, however, never been a reason for kids to attend school. Public services are available for children and families in crisis.

• Mike Pence also says that schools should open for the academic and intellectual development of our children.

While in-school learning has obvious advantages, it lacks rich opportunities for improving computer skills and thinking outside the box. School at home also teaches students to use the flexibility it offers to their advantage, more time to work on essays or projects or reading assignments. Thanks to technology, teachers can now read and comment on essays at the same time students are writing them from home. ZOOM and email enable teachers to work with individual students who need extra help.

• The White House says there is no substitute for in-class learning.

Public schools are not looking for a substitute for in-class learning. There is no substitute, but that really isn't the point. Educators are planning for an alternative. There is a difference between substitute and alternative, but one is not better than the other; it's just different, and in the current pandemic, different is an excellent choice!

Let's return to the new Lambent Literacy word non sequitur. This word is directly from Latin and it means it does not follow. Its first known use in English was 1540, and it was often used to imply that the inference seems to appear from out of the blue.

And that's the way the White House's demand for sending kids into a burning building feels--out of the blue without any logic. In fact, not protecting our future resources, our legacy, our precious children and the circle of people whom they might infect is seriously irresponsible for the leaders of our nation.

Let's stop underestimating the adaptability and creativity of our children as well as the public education system. Perhaps if we stopped thinking of children as fragile, we might teach them what it takes to be strong, to persevere, to work hard to get what they want instead of having it handed to them.

We can do this! No one is going to fall behind academically if the adults in our kids' lives will get on board and view at-home school as a brilliant learning opportunity that is just as, if not more challenging and rewarding as sitting in a classroom.

         

Subterfuge: Fleecing the Truth about Public Education

If the American public has become keenly aware of anything during this unprecedented pandemic, it's the stark and uncomfortable truth about public education.  With school slated to open in a few weeks, our leaders, both political and educational, have begun to issue nebulous guidelines, if any. Jaw-dropping suggestions like, "Oh, just let them go back to school. They'll be all right" leave many of us dismayed if not full of anxiety. Comments from our president like "99% of coronavirus cases are harmless" may be the artifice that the most powerful and influential man in the world is using to reopen the economy, his major trump card for winning the November election.

This behavior, dear friends, is the epitome of subterfuge. This man is the same anti-child president responsible for keeping children in cages, doing absolutely nothing to prevent gun violence in schools, and now sacrificing school children on the altar of expediency.

What is mind-boggling is that the use of subterfuge is normally clandestine, yet the current White House does little to hide the pretense in their motives. Does our government--local, state, and federal, have no qualms about children, their teachers and other school workers, including bus drivers, being exposed to Covid contagion head on. This is where the truth becomes fuzzy. Is the coronavirus on its way out as Trump says, or are all the medical professionals and scientists making up the outrageous spike in cases and the rapid spread of the virus?

Why is facing the truth so difficult that the act of subterfuge has become the method of choice to get what we want, with no negative consequences, or even in some cases with little or no public awareness?

Ah, but subterfuge isn't new.

In The Republic Plato tells the story of a shepherd named Gyges who finds a ring. As he sits among his fellow shepherds one evening, he discovers when he turns the collet of this ring to the inside of his hand, he becomes invisible. Gleeful about this new trick, he volunteers to go to the palace and give the king the report on his sheep. Gyges uses the ring's invisibility to seduce the queen, kill the king and take over the kingdom. At the end of the story Plato turns to his student and says,

     "Having given both to the just and unjust power to do what they will, let us watch and see
     whither desire will lead them; then we shall discover in the very act the just and unjust man to
     be proceeding along the same road...and are only diverted into the path of justice by the force
     of law."

In other words, the just and the unjust will go down the same road of injustice if
     1. they think no one is watching, or
     2.they are forced by a law they cannot evade.

Plato came from an Athenian family prominent in politics. Disgusted and sickened by the execution of his friend Socrates in 399 as well as the corruption and violence in Athenian politics, Plato followed the path of philosophy as he sought to cure the ills of society.

As to the question of subterfuge, I worry about the conundrum of accepting and abiding by truth. Why is facing the truth so hard? Perhaps the root of the problem is fear, especially fear of the loss or damage to one's ego. Breaking the illusion of perceived perfection has a domino effect that could topple the empire of everything one has said or done, independently or in collusion. Unfortunately, the threat of the toppling of truth for the last three and a half years has left the country in a state in which it really doesn't know where it stands.

As for educating children in the height of the Covid pandemic, the truth is people will get sick and maybe even die as they gather in small and large groups. Even hybrid school plans are at great risk. Teachers, who are well acquainted with the behavior of children Pre-K through high school, have known for years how kids--all kids, not just the little guys, spread germs. It's a no-brainer. Masks will come off, children will talk, laugh, yell, cough, sneeze, touch each other. They aren't robots that will sit quietly facing the teacher, who by the way, won't be parked for eight hours at the front of the classroom.  Of course, Betsy DeVos wouldn't know this because our Secretary of Education isn't an educator. And just because a person went to school doesn't make him or her an expert on how schools should be run.

As a teacher and an advocate of children for many years, I am frustrated and angry. Isn't it time to side with the children--to protect them from violence, injustice, and sickness so they can grow up to be healthy and happy adults? Don't our precious resources, the ones who will carry on our legacy, deserve this much at the very least? And could we please stop acting like this "new normal" is permanent? The virus may be here to stay, but scientists are working tirelessly for a vaccine for 2021. There will come a time when life will return to some semblance of the "old normal."

When I was fourteen I fell in love with Anne Frank's story and I'm going to return to her words of comfort now. Despite Plato's somewhat melancholy philosophy, despite the hell Anne and her family endured during the Holocaust, she wrote in her diary, "In spite of everything  I believe people are really good at heart." Let's prove her right. Let's do the right thing for our children and the teachers and ancillary staff who care for them.

Subterfuge: Latin subterfugere, to flee secretly
       
                    Pronounced (sub' ter fyudj)

The Lugubrious Landscape of Loss

On this July 4th day of good cheer, I am sad. My dear friend of thirty years had to put her dog down this week. Although I am a long-time cat owner, I loved that dog and this unexpected sad news hit me hard. I considered this sweetheart part of my inner circle; we were tight, and yet there aren't enough words to describe the sadness his owner felt, and still feels--these bonds are not broken lightly. Don't get me wrong. I realize that the loss of a beloved pet is not to be, cannot be, measured against the loss of a loved one, but this 2020 Covid quarantine has removed from us a vital sense of perspective.

Since mid-March everyone I know has experienced a level of depression, and it comes and goes in much the same way our expectations of life wax and wane--celebrations of a birthday or an anniversary or a graduation or a holiday too often taken for granted. Thoughts of The Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas with my own family and friends are now shrouded in uncertainty. Will the months ahead allow large family gatherings, or will we still be clinging to the memories of 2019, praying for an end to this nightmare? Be prepared, dear friends. There's a good chance we will not be gathered with the usual crowd around the carving of the turkey this year.

Putting holidays aside for a moment, what about the simple everyday disappointments we're feeling right now? Life hasn't exactly come to a halt, you know, and many of the same challenges we faced before Covid-19 are still hanging around:  the A/C is broken, Bill fell and needed surgery on his leg, the dishwasher finally stopped working, Andy wasn't injured but his car is totaled, and his sister's boyfriend broke up with her. And, oh yeah, my rotator cuff hurts like hell.

Right. Maybe none of those things happened to you, plus--thank God, no one in your family has Covid, but you still can't seem to shake off those quarantine blues.

The Lambent Literacy word of the week must no doubt address our general state of mind in the midst of a pandemic which is still in the first wave and getting worse by the day. So here it is--lugubrious.  It means sad, dismal, mournful, depressed. Its Latin origin is straightforward: lugere, lugubris--to mourn, and the word came into English use in the 17th century. So here we are four centuries later feeling the full effects of the word. How aptly it describes that barren, treeless landscape of loss. And yet maybe a more accurate description might be the altered brain state to which we have succumbed.

In his book Mind to Matter, Dawson Churgh explains the range of healing our brains are capable of, from miraculous physical cures to the ripple effects of the emotional contagion of being around happy people. He believes we can change our thoughts and subsequently our behavior by altering our state of mind. Easier said than done, right? Maybe not, if we start with the most obvious solution. If happiness is increased by being around happy people, what could be easier? Go find yourself a Pollyanna? Okay, but then we must ask, will our desired positive state of mind be totally dependent on constantly seeking out and attaching ourselves to happy people?

Since most of us want to be in charge of our own happiness, I've come up with five depression busters that might be of help:

1. Substitute a negative thought pattern for a positive one.  For example, it's raining and you had plans to go for a walk in the park. Since you've made a list of alternative activities to do during quarantine, you simply go to the next item on your list. Abundance mentality at work.

2. Spend time in green spaces. Decades of research prove it's beneficial to your physical and mental health. Better yet, grow something. Nothing brings more hope than watching a plant grow.

3. Eat healthy food and exercise regularly, even for a few minutes each day. When you exercise, your body releases endorphins that reduce your perception of pain and trigger positive feelings.

4. Spend time thinking about the actual source of your unhappiness. The pain doesn't go away until you address the real cause of it. Either let it go, forgive the one you need to forgive, or fix it.

5. Our reactions to sadness are often the result of how we have been trained to react. We have a choice. And yes, you can choose to be around happy people with a positive outlook.

The lugubrious landscape of loss is often self-induced. Take back the control of the happiness you deserve. Live long and prosper....and thrive in your new state of contentment.

Gimcrack and the Empty Golden Egg

Most people who know me are aware of my passion for nature. I even collect little knickknacks that remind me of the critters that inhabit the green spaces I love. The thing about collections, however, is the dust they attract and the space they occupy. They subvert the feng shui that we're told provides the necessary balance between yin and yang. So why do we collect this gimcrack gold, the curse of a love-hate relationship with things?

Surely that is a question.

Gimcrack (jim crack) objects appear attractive, but in fact they are usually of little value. While two of my pottery birds I inherited from my mother, most of my animal figures are made of natural materials--straw, twigs, feathers, and were not built to last. My three-year-old grandson is proof of that. He enjoys playing with them, gradually decreasing their already short longevity, but when we rearrange them once more in their proper place, they seem no worse for wear. Yet.

But the question remains. What's all this gimcrack palaver about anyway?

This word gimcrack, of Middle English origins, came into use between AD 1325 and 1375, and evolved from ME gibbecrak on through Old French, gibben--to be erratic, and gibber + crak--a bursting sound. Perhaps back in the 14th century, this word assumed the qualities of a cheap bauble crashing to the floor.  Nevertheless, the journey of language acquisition and syntax is indeed an interesting one.

But to return to the question of why we are so enamored with useless trifles--there may be more than meets the eye. That which is flimsy or poorly made, a cheap imitation, maybe even a showy one, continues to be deceptively attractive even now in 2020. Advertising is a good example of this, mesmerizing the buyer with the lure of glitz.

Maybe it's the whole plumage strategy--the showy one gets the sale. It certainly works for birds. Why wouldn't wearing fabulous, if not outrageous, attention-getting plumage work for humans, too?

You see, what glitters may not be gold but it looks like gold and for a moment it feels like gold. Its attraction is irresistible--even when the golden gimcrack is just another empty shell.

Psychologist Carl Jung, however, warns us of living in our Id, that childlike part of our personalities that strips away our patience and good judgment, embracing us in the I want what I want, and I want it now stage.

One of my favorite writers Charles Dickens was adept at  holding up the proverbial mirror to his readers, not just the English but also the Americans of the 19th Century Industrial Revolution. His villains as well as loads of  English folk trying to avoid debtor's prison craved the stuff of golden gimcrack. Not only was image paramount but survival, too, was sealed in everything money could buy--Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, Uriah Heep in David Copperfield, Ralph Nickleby in Nicholas Nickleby, Bill Sykes in Oliver Twist. Their greed for gold, image and power wrecked lives, ultimately their own.

How easy it is to fall for gimcrack, but is a harmless version of it really so bad?

Collecting little animals on a shelf seems innocent enough. Marie Kondo agrees with me. If they bring me joy, says she, I should keep them, and I probably will.  But what about my friend's cubic zirconia diamonds and those Jimmy Choo knockoffs she surreptitiously purchased on a back street in NYC? We want to believe that images of quality and expensive good taste can be ours without the price, that somehow even the fake ones have the power to make us seem better than we are.

Or maybe there's a happy middle ground. You can enjoy your gimcrack and still be a person of character and substance with little or no thought to image.

We'll be fine, as long as we avoid the mouse-trap where that delicious cheese (Jarlsberg?) isn't what we thought it was and there's no one to rescue us once we're snared.

Where Are the Halcyon Days of Yore?

Lately I've had a lot of time to think about all the great experiences and adventures throughout my life. Not the least of which are the literary tours to England and Scotland that I led for my students and their families--glorious theatre trips to Stratford and London, tea time in Bath, a train ride through the sheep-dotted Yorkshire moors to the home of the Brontës, an excursion through Canterbury and Dover, tracing the footsteps of Bobbie Burns and Robert Louis Stevenson in Edinburgh. Ah, those were the days. And how could I forget my recently life changing trip to Ireland with my sister--renting a car and driving through eleven little towns and villages along the southern coast. Unfortunately, the coronavirus Covid-19 has put a crimp in the travel plans of many of us.

No matter. Happy memories sustain us and make us remember what we have accomplished and how our lives have been full of purpose. We often look back on them as calm and peaceful, maybe even carefree. Whether or not they actually were all of those things we might not know for sure, for time has a way of healing and softening the hard edges. Our photographs prove how happy we were and allow us to relive those glorious moments.

Our dependency on our halcyon days of yore, however, can be a slippery slope. Living in the past often prevents us from taking advantage of opportunities that lie ahead of us and helping us create new memories. But let's pause a moment to learn more about the word itself.

A word that means calm and peaceful should have a pretty poetic story behind it, and indeed halcyon does. According to Greek mythology, Alcyone was the daughter of Aeolus, king of the winds. She and her husband Ceyx, king of Thessaly, were so in love that they called themselves Zeus and Hera. Father of the gods Zeus interpreted their pet names as disrespect, and he turned Ceyx into a vulture. Alcyone was hunting everywhere for him when the Olympians in their sorrow for Alcyone turned her into a bird as well, the Alkyona bird. She was condemned, however, to lay her eggs near the cold raging seas of winter rather than spring or summer. Zeus felt sorry for her and ordered sunny weather for fifteen days every January so she could lay and hatch her eggs in calm and peaceful weather. Alcyone--alkyon, meaning kingfisher in Greek, became known and used as halcyon between AD 1340 and 1400. The beautiful bird below is a kingfisher.

As the first wave of Covid-19 lingers, and in fact is spiking in Texas as I write this, we continue to find ways of coping and bringing stability to these irrational months of uncertainty and hardship. We may not have a Zeus whose pity for us ushers in that metaphorical sunny weather, but God gave us the wisdom and patience to be creative in recreating a purposeful life in spite of the obstacles we now face.

How do you achieve peace? Are you responsible for your own state of peace? What can you do to contribute to peace outside your sphere? These are the questions I posed to my family and friends, and they were kind enough to offer some insight. Here's the short list:

• Remove yourself from unhealthy situations (emotional as well as physical)
• Make a commitment to love.
• Communicate your wants and needs clearly.
• Occupy green spaces as often as possible.
• Forgive. Not just others but yourself, too.
• Find order in your life--clean out your refrigerator, pay your bills on time, get enough sleep.
• Let go of the things beyond your control.
• Set boundaries and follow them.
• Learn how to praise others and also how to accept praise. Look for the good in people. This does not mean you have to agree with them or even become best friends with them.
•  Learn more about yourself, your likes and dislikes, and start a new hobby or continue an old one.
•  Take care of your body. Exercise and eat healthy meals for sound body and mind.

One day--yes, maybe it will be a year from now, you will travel again. You will experience those life changing moments and have those incredible adventures once more. Until that day, like Alcyone, we must forge our own individual "fifteen days every January," the halcyon days of now.

Sending love and hugs to all the people who followed me to my beloved UK!

Juggernaut: Forces of Good or Evil?

The connotative study of words can be fascinating as their history and culture enable the word to be not only widely used but also spread and altered over time. The beauty of our language is that it can offer comfort as often as it does despair.  Juggernaut is one of those gems.

Originating from Hindi, juggernaut is derived from Jagannath--a term for the Hindu god Krishna meaning "lord of the world."  It came into common usage in the English language in the early nineteenth century, probably as a result of British colonization of India.  In the Indian town of Puri a festival is held where Jagannath is dragged on top of a heavy chariot through the streets. The image conjures a massive inexorable force that threatens to destroy all in its path.

The British have a similar cultural meaning for juggernaut. A huge lorry barreling down the motorway is frequently referred to as a juggernaut, and no doubt the average UK  driver will cautiously maneuver around any vehicle that size.  On the other hand, this word does not slip habitually off the American tongue, if at all. If you were a Marvel comics fan of the 60s, you no doubt are familiar with the merciless and destructible fictional bad guy called Juggernaut, but where does that leave the rest of us?

The common usage of juggernaut may not be part of the ordinary American vocabulary, but that doesn't mean we don't feel the effects of it, and mightily. I asked a number of friends and family to describe the personal juggernaut--the unstoppable, dominant power, currently dominating their lives. With the exception of two people, their answers pointed to the metaphorical tsunami sweeping over them. The one prevailing trait was the level of restriction and containment of the Covid-19 quarantine, the way it bridled their lives and left people in a quandary ranging from disappointment to bewilderment. The virus, the protests in George Floyd's honor, the BLM movement, and all subsequent life changes have upset our comfort zone as well as the ability to battle everyday stresses. The day to day uncertainty delivered by fear of illness and death, joblessness and inability to feed one's family and take care of basic needs, the injustices endured by POC, the concomitant barrage of bad news from local and national television and social media, the long wait for a vaccine, and the unexpected, painful containment of our lives compelled by quarantine--this is a horrific juggernaut Americans, and even people the world over, have not experienced since the 1940s.

But wait, you ask, what about the two people whose responses were different?

Hmm. Well, they were interesting and definitely worth considering. Although they described their juggernauts differently, both answers amounted to the same power: love. One said her juggernaut was her puppy that she loves with all her heart. The other response was simply "Love IS power." We know all the bad stuff about that steamroller effect of juggernaut, but might there be another unstoppable, dominant power in our lives that we desire, that we actually need in abundance?

Christians believe in a God who sacrificed His Son Jesus out of love for all humanity. They follow the scripture that says, "God is love."  Mothers and fathers, and sometimes grandparents, go to unimaginable lengths to protect and provide for their children. Family members donate their available organs to improve the quality and lengthen the lives of people they don't want to live without. Decades of research show that babies who are loved thrive whereas those who aren't held and loved become weak. We know that the compassion we show to our fellow human beings in their darkest days transfers to them the power to survive. Even beloved pets have the capacity to lengthen our lives, and when they are gone, the love is so strong we feel as if we have lost a dear family member. The power of juggernaut, the same indomitable force that has the potential to destroy, may also have the muscle to change our lives for the good. What if it doesn't always look like that inexorable mass of power headed our way?

Perhaps both the negative and positive connotations of juggernaut provide the necessary balance that allows us to wade through the storm to get safely to dry land. Although Carl Sandburg didn't use the word juggernaut in his poetry, I imagine his portrayal of love in "Little Word, Little White Bird" to be a quiet but dynamic horsepower that energizes us and moves us forward without the burden of anxiety and pain.



And it won’t help any, it won’t get us anywhere,
it won’t wipe away what had been
nor hold off what is to be,
if you hear me saying
love is a little white bird
and the flight of it so fast
you can’t see it
and you know it’s there
only by the faint whirr of its wings
and the hush song coming so low to your ears
you fear it might be silence
and you listen keen and you listen long
and you know it’s more than silence
for you get the hush song so lovely
it hurts and cuts into your heart
and what you want is to give more than you can get
and you’d like to write it but it can’t be written
and you’d like to sing it but you don’t dare try
because the little white bird sings it better than you can
so you listen and while you listen you pray
and after you pray you meditate, then pray more
and one day it’s as though a great slow wind
had washed you clean and strong inside and out
and another day it’s as though you had gone to sleep
in an early afternoon sunfall and your sleeping heart
dumb and cold as a round polished stone,
and the little white bird’s hush song
telling you nothing can harm you,
the days to come can weave in and weave out
and spin their fabrics and designs for you
and nothing can harm you–
unless you change yourself into a thing of harm
nothing can harm you.

Go forth and prosper in the power of love, friends!