To "A"...

What a beautiful and majestic warrior you are! I am in awe of you. I was blessed to have met you, to have given you my meager offerings of thought and prose, talismans and tinctures for your journey.

Some may think that a birth journey begins at the onset of labor. But you know, and I know, the journey begins long before that.

Early on in your pregnancy, you packed your bag, put on your hiking shoes, and, asking your partner for his ever-present companionship in the journey, stepped out of your home. You had a particular destination in mind, one that every ripe and full woman has, but found that, the further from home you journeyed, the more your travels required of you.

Chance meetings with other journeyers, forks in the road, detours, Inns, and even temptations to take a carriage ride to your destination all met you, moving in and out of your travels like whispers on your conscience.

And in the midst of this, you began to transform. Your calves became chiseled, your forearms became etched. The fiery red hair that crowns your brow became more lustrous with the wisdom that was placed on your mantel and your breasts swelled with the passion and purity you had buried deep in your bosom.

When, at wisdom's Time, you came to the Gates, you threw them open with only a moment's hesitation and walked boldly forward... and down...

It was a hard descent, a raw, emotional, searing, and mid-blowing descent; but you faced each challenge stoically and resolutely - with a pure and unabashed bravery the likes of which I have seen few times in my life.

There were tears.. there was anger and frustration, joy and disbelief.

And there was casting off...

You cast off your talismans, pulled back your hair, and rent your breasts in the power of your Time. The map was cast aside and you were stripped of your glorious garments.

And in a space, in a breath, you were more beautiful and strong then, naked and pure, bruised, vulnerable, and shaken, but strong and able and so wise...

And in your quiet understanding - the communion you shared with your womb - an intimate knowledge, you found peace....




I saw something in you at that moment that will haunt and humble me from this day forward... you had arrived. I witnessed the moment you arrived at the atom, the core, the infinite finite of your souls antapex.

Your decent was over, but your journey was not - and in quiet determination, you brought your eyes to mine and nodded. Once...
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And began to ascend...