Homesick

I have been homesick for my women friends lately. I'm homesick for The Sisters, the other seven women who serve as my spiritual home. Two of them recently had babies, and it aches that this auntie can't marvel at each one of Vaughn's tiny toes, or stare in wonder at Bethany's new baby eyes. I'm homesick for other women's groups...for other times and places when I have gathered in the midst of solace and silliness. Fort Wayne in June of 2005 seems like a distant and foreign land compared to other years and other places in my life.

We are from dusk
and candles
and the earthy illuminations
which make our faces shine
and our eyes sparkle.

We are from spices
and the exotic,
the always herbal,
and the intoxicatingly sweet.

We are from silence
the tick of the clock
the sigh of a cat
the Breathing, Breathing, Breathing
stillness.

We are from "I remember's"
and "I sense's"
from the "this hurts" and the "this heals."

We are from tears shared
and griefs carried--

We are from secret whisperings
and growing vulnerabilities.

We are from a feminine God
and as we cradle one another
in the turning of our faces
to glance at the divine--
we stare into one another's eyes.