A Woman’s Blessings

 

 

A Woman’s Blessings

 

if a woman has blessed you

with kiss of womb at your birth

oh, but you have known love

that sent you from safety of her body

she sacrificed your loss with weep of blood

and sacred sanctified fluids that sent you sailing

oh, then you have been blessed

 

she has blessed you with touch of lips to newest crowning

her beloved of her beloved     perhaps

but surely you were nestled and you knew blessings

of her breast    bone dry     or abundant

with fountains of love that fed you her stories   

her hopes     her dreams     oh    yes   

you have been blessed     a sacrament

only she could offer you

 

she has blessed you by whispers in her night

when stars struck you awake with need

for her touch     sweet sleepless child

bundled you     tightly    with wrap of arms

swaddled you with tokens of her embrace

rocked you to music so divine

you will ever be unable to match     oh

you have been blessed

 

if you have been blessed by her call of your name

she gave you so God might know you

when you should be beckoned     to take notice

that you should come      to her side

so she might grasp your hand     lead you

where she knows you should go

then     yes     you have been blessed

 

should you have been blessed at her altar

there was a moment you were treated

as if you were the divine one

and hr skin spoke a new language to you

her language     only she speaks

and you almost felt distraught

at not knowing how to decipher it

but     yet    you returned   if she blessed you so

so sounds of her absolute ecstasy

might never been forgotten

oh     yes   though you might forget

your skin will forever know that scent of her

yes     you were blessed

 

if you held her face in her hands

saw eons in her eyes

knew her ancient wisdom

she has not shared easily

as she sent you away     again   

that the world might experience

her most adored wish     you

who she sanctified    nurtured  

gave gift of you    oh     living monument

of her most treasured flesh of her flesh

then yes     if you turned back as you left

saw bereavement of another loss she gives freely

and you were sent on your way with her blessing

 

and if she became half of who she was

age folding her body and yet her youth

lit up     in reflection of her greatest desire

you    drawn to her like a struggling ship

seeing a shoreline beacon at that last moment

before you should have sunk    then you know

how blessed you have been      by this woman’s desire

to shelter you safely    in sage of her smudged shawl

once that wrapped you     now draped on her shoulders

to remind her     she was once divine

once loved     once blessed

by you

 

oh, you were her blessing and she was yours

if you have truly known     a woman

 

©Carol Desjarlais 1.22.21

https://allpoetry.com/poem/15678367-A-Woman-s-Blessings-by-CarolDesjarlais