Let there be snakes,magnificent and smooth, slithering all around
in their silent dance, coming from
the direction where all things begin.
Let there be music:
sensual, and from places where the poets still
remember to surrender to the curves
and twirls of ink on the paper.
Let there be silence.
Long enough for every person gathered together
to have the opportunity to look
inside, to start brushing with depth.
Let there be stories,
for they are all that matters. The one when I left
the eggs gathered from my aunt's chicken coop
in my coat pocket and realized
hours later at the grocery store,
my hand inadvertently covered in the gooey substance.
And the stories of endless laughter,
of days and dreams engulfed by false friendships
during my drinking years,
of lovers too much married to give me
what I needed.
And the spell-writing stories at night,
with my window open on the cornfields
and on the dark sky of the world.
Let there be no regrets.
Not even for the hardest of times
or the stubbornness of my young self.
Certainly not for the intolerable pain that helped me
grow, and taught me how to love.
Let there be children.
May they be barefoot and wear their absolute
favorite outfit and dance around wildly
in the rain. May there be grandchildren too,
small and plump, enchanted
by the little feathers they find on the road.
Let there be witches.
So many witches, dead and alive,
from all over the world.
My beloved sisters.
They will dance and sing my name,
burn dried plants, and draw symbols
with the smoke
under the weeping trees. They will know
exactly what to say and what to bring.
Let them do it all.
Let there be more snakes, because they are
the greatest teachers of my life,
my faithful and always present companions.
Wrap my body in their shed skins, cover it with
their endless spines that create bridges
to the liminal,
and with words from the other world,
tales told in the forked
tongue of ancient truth.
Let there be poetry, and let there be tears,
fat and warm, last gifts flowing
deliciously on the cheeks of the most beautiful faces
I've ever seen.
And let there be
love-making in the dark woods.
Let there be everything truly worth living for,
on the day I die.