The crown adorns
she who keeps going—
long enough
for the path to wend
and get treacherous,
eventually;
to the inevitable:
to the crossroads.
The crown adorns
she who will willingly
release this princessly chrysalis,
slip out of her dynastic mantle,
follow the starprints
of naked sovereignty,
choose the narrow bridge
of the regnant.
The crown adorns
she who, with every step onward,
causes consort-baubles
and dowager-trinkets
to tumble, like so much
detritus, toward the bottomless
shard-canyon graveyard below.
The crown adorns
she, who—unshrinking—
breaks herself against
initiation.
How could any
bloodborne inheritance,
manmade ordination,
patted approval,
bestow the oleander tree
her own majestic blossoming?
Confer obsidian
her distinct and regal glow?
Grant the magnificent moon
her icy and noble halo?
***
Poem #8 in the Priestess Path Cycle / Kohenet Netivot Sidrah.
***
With thanks to Rav Kohanot Jill Hammer and Taya Ma for The Hebrew Priestess.
***
Photo: “Shimmer Girl” by grrr™
