A TEN OF SWORDS DREAM STORY (poem by Patricia Kelly)
Ten of Swords in The Barbara Walker Tarot (see "Resource" below)
A TEN OF SWORDS DREAM STORY*
Yes, she has survived, made the long swim
to shore, riding out harsh waves
and crossing over deep trenches, the crescents
of her arms like moons rising
and falling, rising
and falling
Yes, she has done all that and more
to stand on this new shore with sea water dripping
like tears from her black robe
Like the tears she harbors for the one
whose landing was not safe:
he who swam through the storms by her side,
the songs they sang to each other above the crash
of waves and thunder their only life line
The songs that told her who she was,
echoing off the skies and sounding the depths
in a shining map of the possible or alive
with the gloriously fantastic
Their singing together that taught
her how to keep on breathing no matter
the gales that would snatch
at their breath
She curls her toes deeply
in the wet sand, claiming through the haze
of her pain a true purchase
on this new shore
She looks toward her burrowing
toes but her belly beneath her black robe
is too hugely round to allow
this grounding sight
The new life she carries there pulses
from her center against the black robe,
once, twice, raising it gently like a heart’s
fluttering as a wind sighs toward her
from the rising sun
* written 1993: a fusion of a dream, and the Ten of Swords that I drew for the dream at random from the Barbara Walker Tarot deck; revised August 2007.A TEN OF SWORDS DREAM STORY*
Yes, she has survived, made the long swim
to shore, riding out harsh waves
and crossing over deep trenches, the crescents
of her arms like moons rising
and falling, rising
and falling
Yes, she has done all that and more
to stand on this new shore with sea water dripping
like tears from her black robe
Like the tears she harbors for the one
whose landing was not safe:
he who swam through the storms by her side,
the songs they sang to each other above the crash
of waves and thunder their only life line
The songs that told her who she was,
echoing off the skies and sounding the depths
in a shining map of the possible or alive
with the gloriously fantastic
Their singing together that taught
her how to keep on breathing no matter
the gales that would snatch
at their breath
She curls her toes deeply
in the wet sand, claiming through the haze
of her pain a true purchase
on this new shore
She looks toward her burrowing
toes but her belly beneath her black robe
is too hugely round to allow
this grounding sight
The new life she carries there pulses
from her center against the black robe,
once, twice, raising it gently like a heart’s
fluttering as a wind sighs toward her
from the rising sun
* * * *
Resource: Barbara Walker Tarot at themysticeye.com.
‘til next time, keep dreaming,
Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****SEE ALSO: Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm for Tarot poetry and Roswila’s Taiga Tarot for taiga (illustrated tanka).****
Labels: dream poem, tarot poem, Ten of Swords, The Barbara Walker Tarot
posted by Roswila at 1:27 PM
2 Comments:
Hi Roswila, how's it going? not been on here for a will but pulled a card this morning and thyought of you, glad to see you are still keeping busy will catch up soon.
Oh and the card
Is called 'silence' in the Cheryl Richardson, self care cards.
Hi scruffyhippo,
Glad you stopped by. I've haven't been by yours in a while (last I recall you were having re-organizing/tech issues with your overall site...) but will visit soon.
Interesting that the 10S is called "Silence" in the Self Cards. The woman in the poem is mourning the loss of singing, i.e. the silence she finds herself in. BTW, there's an expression a Tarot buddy and I used to frequently use when a meaning we were seeing for a card seemed odd or off the beaten path for that card: If it doesn't fit, we'll make it fit! LOL!
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