By Terry Wolverton

Submit your eyes to the unfolding

textures of pre-dawn light.

Utter the riotous syllables of leaves.

Relinquish regret; scatter ashes to wind.

Run in green spaces; fall in green grass.

Rise up. Run farther.

Enter a continuum of sheer belief.

Do no stray from this spot.

Narrow the aperture through which fear

can enter.

Deepen the hunger for late afternoon rain.

Eavesdrop on the stories stones tell.

Raze the edifice of exceptionalism.

Sanctify each epiphany your fingertips graze.

Embolden the weather of amber and indigo.

Prepare to remain grateful when complaint

is the collective mantra.

Author the face that appears

in the midnight mirror.

Receive the stranger who arrives for tea.

Attune yourself to the message of

lightning strikes.

Tithe a percentage of your dreams to the

sleepless who burn on fevered sheets.

Expose your optimism.

Name your demons; claim these bastard

children and croon them to sleep

with songs of a shimmering world.

Escape the cocoon of your excuses.

Salve the bruises of the disillusioned.

Seed the trembling earth with your

pearled eyeteeth.

***
Donna Henes is the author of The Queen of My Self: Stepping into Sovereignty in Midlife. She offers counseling and upbeat, practical and ceremonial guidance for individual women and groups who want to enjoy the fruits of an enriching, influential, purposeful, passionate, and powerful maturity. Consult the MIDLIFE MIDWIFE™

The Queen welcomes questions concerning all issues of interest to women in their mature years. Send your inquiries to thequeenofmyself@aol.com.