Little Artemis (A Poem)

It has been far too long since I have written. Work has kept me running from place to place, living in two different homes to better facilitate travel, working overnight shifts to complicate matters. And in what quiet points I have found, I've been separated from the Internet ( It's tragic I know...). It's also been tough to actually finish a post, there are so many things that I've started to write about but never finished. I think my draft posts are triple my actual completed posts. I mean this to be a simple explanation of my absense, rather than an excuse.

I wanted to share something today that I wrote probably back in 2009 or so. It has elements of prayer but it's also biographical. When I was small I spent a lot of time running around in the woods by my maternal grandmother's house out in the country. When I came to the University of Pittsburgh to study I often found myself missing those times so much, especially when confronted by the confines and polution of urban enviroments and the violence and ugliness people perpetuate upon each other for what ever manufactured reason. I really try when ever I can to get outside, to find somewhere close to those woods so I can for at least a little while be the little girl I was again, and find the clarity and confidence I had then. When I ran in those woods I feared nothing (not to say I wasn't aware of the risks and dangers, I was almost run over by an ATV once because I had slipped and fallen.) I felt more in my element, more in control, and now I feel like I know so much fear, that I exist out of my element, as isolated from my surroundings as Tellus Mater is from the rain when covered with concrete.

Little Artemis

Sweet Maiden of the Wood

Fleet sprit swift as the wind

Fragile as new spring growth

Yet strong as the oak that towers above you

Barefoot you tread the wilds without fear

Free as all creatures are, so are you

With your hounds you hunt

But no animal must flee in fear

You seek the beauties of the wild

The secrets only you have seen

Your youthful eyes hold great widsom in their depths

Not lessons taught by pain and strife

But Gaia's whispered softly

Watchful dreamer, vigilant and carefree

You know the risk of the wilds you tread

You know the dangers of weather and season

Your mother wails, fearful for you

Warning of danger by the hand of man

That one so small and young as you may risk

No fear have you, who dare to tread where others would not

You know these pathless woods as you know your face

A haven and comfort to those wise enough

You can smell the rain upon the wind

You know the call of dangerous beasts

Like a bird you know the way home by heart

Like a cat you can move unseen by the eyes of men

All of Gaia's wisdom at your fingertips

Keeps you safe from all harm

Yet, no matter how swift

No matter how vigilant

You cannot escape the passage of time

So swift it comes, draging you away

To a place foreign and strange

With mighty buildings in place of trees

Set paths to tread and travel by

Life muted by constructed forms

Oh that fear which at first consumed

The new dangers that bit and tore

How horrifying how tragic

No matter what you do not yeild

For men and women are no different than beasts

Except for their sometimes sensless savagry

Gaia still whispers through the stone that covers her

And now this artifical wilderness you come to master

Greatest is she who is at home in either place

To stride through civilization and wilderness with equal freedom

Holding the delicate balance in your hand

You ensure the survival of all

May all men admire you

May all women aspire to be you


Hope you liked it.

Blessings,

Satiah