Loveworthy

I republish this poem from Spirit Walk: Journey of a Soul Embodied

  because Loveworthy appears in the following story and because

  I mourn for the human diversity this régime intends to destroy.

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The landscape, dreamlike, floated past her motionless body.
  Reliving the events recently past threw her into a vast,
  swirling pool of confusion, revelation and incredulity.

‘Did this really happen?!’ echoed through her mind.

The memories captured her,
  binding her body to the earth,
  opening her mind to the universe.

It started so innocently and gently.
  She saw Loveworthy, felt at once a
  connection, a profound love for her.

She followed eagerly the mystique.
  Loveworthy knew her immediately,
  and without pause, they united as one.

There are those you meet in this life
  with whom you share a soul-contract,
  a covenant to share a hallowed journey.

So, they loved and walked,
  fell deeply one into the other,
  shared exquisite bliss and delight.

Then, a man swaggered out from the mist,

  clad in grays and browns and garnished with
  eyes of steel and a smile contorted into a scowl.

He too knew Loveworthy,
  and approached her with the 
  arrogance born of power and rank.

Sanction and consent, his to confer,
  he wasted not a breath pronouncing
  his opinions and judgment against her.

‘What are you doing?!’  he exclaimed.
  ‘Who do you think you are, parading
  around like this, with another woman?!’

Loveworthy spoke not, but gathered her
  partner’s hand in hers and stood silently,
  resolutely defying his dogmatic judgment.
 
In revulsion, he disappeared back into the mist.
  The women gazed into each other’s souls and
  vowed that nothing would separate them, ever.

But as they walked, more stepped from the mist,
  lambasting them with profanities surpassed only 
  by the hatred and disgust coursing in their hearts.

Acerbic ridicule escalated into physical threats.
  Loveworthy stood fast, devoted to her partner.
  Peacefully, she asserted their right to share vows.

And as her community and family exiled her
  for this profound and singular love, she wept, 
  her heart shattered by their hatred and betrayal.

Her heart grew hard with anger and defiance.
  She would never again kowtow to the doctrine
  of a community defined by ignorance, fear, hate.

She was inspired by the love of her partner
  to find and express the greatness in herself.
  They healed, developed and thrived together.

A love so precious could not be wrong,
  and she,
  she was love worthy.

So she and her partner stayed the course,
  created their lives and journeyed together,
  strengthened by their love and commitment.

But the others, fed by fear and ignorance,
  could not allow such a shameless display
  of love and pleasure between two women.

Nor could they abide deviation from dictums
  that bound tightly that community of believers.
  So, they set out to stop the abhorrent abomination.

Clandestinely, they approached Loveworthy’s partner.
  ‘She is disgraceful.  She can only mean trouble for you.
  Best you stop now, while you still can,’  they admonished.

Frightened by the others, Loveworthy’s partner drew to her.
  ‘I’m confused!’  she cried.  ‘They say our love is not natural?!
  They call us depraved and atrocious!  Is our love worth this?’ 
 
The hate had poisoned her partner’s heart and mind.
  It had made her question her own wisdom, and worse,
  made her doubt her own worthiness to be and feel love.

Loveworthy gazed at the one who made her heart sing,
  the woman with whom she shared a soul contract.
  And, she wept.

Brokenhearted, Loveworthy turned away.
  Their journey and their love had been
  desecrated by ignorance and fear.

They caught Loveworthy that day,
  walking alone by a stream.
  There, they took her.

She walks no more by the stream.
  Her light, her love, her life,
  all perished that day.

And here I lie, next to the stream,
  transfixed by the memories of the 
  love that was mine and that I let go.

Through my tears, I see her spirit,
  I feel her touching my heart,
  and I realize, finally, that
  I am love worthy.