How quickly the light flickers
Then she burns again
©Angela Bigler 2020
photo credit: Lights In The Dark AIA eruption 10-09-10 via photopin (license)
Tag Archives: light
18 Summers (for Audrey)
There have been 18 lovely summers
Think of all the beaches where you walked
And how the sand tucks between toes
The salt air scent
The world can make you new
In any moment
Wake and spread your fingers
Towards the sun
Just start again
That is the trick
To keep on moving
May the path unfold before you
Clear and shining
Like your heart
May you feel her sworn protection
Nourished roots, the warming wind
Her gentle peace among the waves and rain
May your breath carry you through
Along with your clear vision
And your heart and light and strength
May purest love surround you
A centered, fluid flame
Inside and out
May you laugh and smile and dance
May you take the time for peace
And brilliant dreams
May you speak all of your truths
And sing your songs
May you let yourself be seen
For all your light
May you love and be loved back
In balance and in care
The treasures of the spirit
Shining through
There have been 18 lovely summers
Or beats of the world heart
Or years of the great earth
Where we’ve been blessed
Today you start again
Another turn towards the sun
That life heart dance
© Angela Bigler 2013
photo credit: ashley rose, via photopin cc
Turtle Time
Yesterday, my friend and I were out hiking around a nearby lake and she pointed out two bumps on a log in the shallow water. We rushed to a better vantage point and confirmed that it was two turtles, one big and one little. Their long necks were stretched out of their dark shells. We could not make out their expressions, but I imagine they were happy to be together warming in the sunlight.
Right now I feel like a turtle taking small steps in the writing of my book. This is a time of cautious reflection. I, like the turtle, need my four feet on the ground. Inside my womb-like shell I can wade through the pages and ask myself the big questions. What is the goal of this book? What scenes matter most? What can be left behind? How do I balance the heart of what I have to share with an adventure that engages the reader?
What I know for certain is that it is a book about finding light in dark places. It is about our roots, the ones we are born with and the ones we create. It is about the magical point of light that can save you on the darkest journey. The kind of spark you see in lucid dreams. This tiny, spinning orb hums as it pulses and shines. You reach out to touch it and it radiates through you as a warm, inner blanket. I want to take you with me into this forest, transform and fire you with the elements and send you home polished and new. I want you to feel what it is like in the mysterious rabbit hole and guide you back to life.
I’ll venture back out when I’m done.
© Angela Bigler 2013
photo credit: U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service – Northeast Region via photopin cc
the leap between
On February 29, 2000, my mom leaped between worlds to a new place where I could not see. I drowned without warning, unable to swim as my roots were now tangled around me. To return to land, I took my own leap through cold time, dark embers, and hologram waves of the psyche. I since came around to myself, but recast. Death must be something like that, a luminous transformation where the soul is returned to the source but now changed.
The thing about the Leap Day loss is I have more comings than goings. Each August, we dine on her favorites, sweet corn on the cob and ripe peaches. All of us feel the heat and the storms. The lightning is common and deep. The roots of the willow rise up to meet the lily, hydrangea and lilac. We are dressed up and singing like heaven or love when just born and celestial. Your heart, that is summer, her birthday. The day she arrived in this world.
When Leap Day does come it is rare and strange to see the occasion marked there on the wall. What else can I write in the square? Most years send the gift of detachment but here it is staring me back. Is there really a way to escape? Perhaps the void between the 28th and the 1st is the space the most real because I make that leap every day – every time I leap back to her darkness and light. Every time I leap back to myself.
© Angela Bigler 2012
photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/haniamir/2630466183/
Angela Bigler 