Tapestry

 

What if the three fates attended summer camp?

     Tired, perhaps, of spinning, measuring, and cutting

          thread after thread of people’s lives.

Would they learn that none of us is a single strand,

     but draws myriad threads into our personal tapestry?

Would they pout or celebrate

     when they realize that often, in fact,

     we re-do the designs that they intended.

 

If the Maiden was protagonist

     might she change how she spins our threads?

Recognizing how easily our eyes

     are drawn to the darker colors-

     might she spin our strengths and resources

     to be thicker and stronger--

          imagining a tapestry in which moments

          of gratitude and joy could stand out clearly.

Would she, in an obliging fashion,

     weave flaws into those threads of darkness

          -negative introjects, childhood hurts, past wounds-

     so between our strengths and our friends

     we could break off these threads of lies

     and let them go.

 

And what of the Mother?

     If she accepted role relief

          and listened-

     would she recognize that the measure of our lives

     isn’t marked by days, but by family, friends, resources.

For the heart savoring gratitude

     there is time enough.

For those who hold onto hurts and resentments

     the length of days never seems right.

How would the Mother mark her threads

     if she realized that we actually love

          moment by moment.

And that the very planet vibrates in song.

     that her calibrations make no sense

          to an open heart.

Suppose, as auxiliary

     She realized we need not be tangled

          by flawed measurements in our past.

      We can measure anew

     and that surrender and releasing

     actually makes our threads more resilient.

That durable and enduring

     are vastly different.

 

When the Crone cuts the threads

     does she think herself powerful?

     Or does she understand

          this is one insignificant cut.

     If she could double and know our web of connections

     would she recognize her limitations?

For in each of us, and those gone before

     is a strand of golden light

     a beacon that might be ignored

          but never be extinguished.

We learn that our thread doesn’t unwind

     in a single direction.

     We can return to the past

     step into the future

          and for that moment, become Now.

And the Crone’s scissors cannot

     separate us, when we hold our emotional connections.

 

Weaving a tapestry takes effort.

     The most beautiful designs hold details

     and true weavers know they can lose

          the larger pattern

          without compassionate friends to be mirrors

          and help hold the larger perspective.

 

The design is not in the threads

     but in their interweaving

 

Spinning, measuring, cutting-

Fate simply offers the materials.

     We are invited to become the artists

          using our spontaneity to place our strands

          using our intuition to set the loom.

 

We gather round the loom of this week

     to celebrate the tapestry we have created.

     and to treasure those colors and textures

     that have gathered to become

          a reflection of one another’s strengths

          and an image of our whole selves.

 

With a grateful heart for the full and rich tapestry that I carried home from our time together, thank you to each of those who were part of my summer camp experience this year.

 

Steve Kopp

July 2014

 


 

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