High Priestess
“‘I have no words’”
actually means
I have too many—
I need time & space
to process them,”
I admit to the One
I never met, except
in the digital corners
of the electronic birdhouse
slo-mo devolving into
an X-graded cess-
pool of bile & vitriol
disguised as liberty.
Yet how to process…
What? Curiosity? Desire?
Manifest Destiny???
All of this & none
at once: the vibration
our souls buzz with
as they glide through
Limbo, tense & electric
as they wonder
whether the road ends
at Heaven or Hell
or somewhere else
for which we meager
mortals have yet
to find proper words.
I have no words
as I watch Her
fondle the toy
with the pout
of Her mouth—
Her lips pursing
as they caress its tip,
water pooling,
not quite covering
Her thighs, mesmerizing
droplets posting patterns
as they slide along the glass
shower door, one eye
covered by a wet
swath of hair
& the other:
coy? Shy?
Shame perhaps?
I think until it looks
directly—Sees—
seizes me!
—not me, I know;
looking at all
who follow, but—
through me:
a stiletto
piercing
my already wounded
heart, & it dawns.
She's not hiding,
there is no shame,
only a clear understanding
of Her own power,
Her Magick—
a knowledge
deeper than most
that even a post
projects power,
power that must be tempered
lest The Priestess
destroy The World
even lacking intent,
& I want that intensity,
I want it more
than I've ever wanted
anything!
Of course I do.
I am The Fool,
after all, careening
carelessly through Life
with little more than hope
& irrepressible Joy
& The Fortune
that blesses all fools
too blind to accept
the darkness
that envelops
The World.
Alas, She will always be
little more than a ghost
to me, a mystery
that I can almost taste
but never solve—
perhaps if I could muster
enough courage, enough
Will… …but then I'd
progress to The Mage,
& I might Will all
The World mine—
power I've feared
to wield widely, wildly:
even Wisdom
cannot always overcome
the Chaos brought on
by the temptations
of The Devil.
So I settle for ghosts,
for shadows, for the single
sided projections my mind
plays as truth because
actual Truth is too burdensome
to bear: The World
is too big, The Priestess
is too far, & The Fool
only ever deserves
to witness Life & Love,
never to truly possess either
except in the dreams
He prefers to reality:
destined to live
the life of The Hermit
while The World moves on
with or without Him,
as always.
