An Ancient Gesture

I thought, as I wiped my eyes on the corner of my apron:
Penelope did this too.
And more than once: you can't keep weaving all day
And undoing it all through the night;
Your arms get tired, and the back of your neck gets tight;
And along towards morning, when you think it will never be light,
And your husband has been gone, and you don't know where, for years.
Suddenly you burst into tears;
There is simply nothing else to do.

And I thought, as I wiped my eyes on the corner of my apron:
This is an ancient gesture, authentic, antique,
In the very best tradition, classic, Greek;
Ulysses did this too.
But only as a gesture,—a gesture which implied
To the assembled throng that he was much too moved to speak.
He learned it from Penelope...
Penelope, who really cried.

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Bluebeard

This door you might not open, and you did;
So enter now, and see for what slight thing
You are betrayed... Here is no treasure hid,
No cauldron, no clear crystal mirroring
The sought-for truth, no heads of women slain
For greed like yours, no writhings of distress,
But only what you see... Look yet again—
An empty room, cobwebbed and comfortless.
Yet this alone out of my life I kept
Unto myself, lest any know me quite;
And you did so profane me when you crept
Unto the threshold of this room to-night
That I must never more behold your face.
This now is yours. I seek another place.

Edna St. Vincent Millay

"Hair Prayer"
by Sonya Sones

His hands

in my hair

may he leave it

right there

until April or May

near the nape

of my meck

just below

my left ear

let it stay

where it is

right here

in my hair

and not go

anywhere

for a year

and a day

better yet

let it stay

till i'm gray.

It's just not that simple
I'm not tryin to save it all I just wanna create a ripple.
And even if one individual is affected
It's monumental with an unusual perspective
That's beautiful in essence
Traditional thinking won't suggest this
Is life really that precious? - well yes it is.
But there will be no celebrations or congratulations
No pat on the back, just your mind intact.
And the freedom to feel your heart beat at the speed of life
Go to sleep tonight knowing you did it right
And rest easy outside of a system that resents you
For not doing what they expect you to do
~John Reuben "Chapter I"

If there is anything I can tell you that holds any meaning, any way I can influence you with my words, it is to tell you that you are loved. You are deeply, passionately, and recklessly loved by an awesome God. This love is exquisite and unconditional, it knows no bounds. Some of you may not know this but you are part of the greatest epic ever told. You are being pursued by the very embodiment of love: your Creator. He wants nothing more than for you to understand this and love him in return. The Bible says we love God because He first loved us.
But sometimes we run. We flee from this great love because we humans are a faulty race. Ever since Eden we've been running from the only thing that can make us whole. When humanity first separated itself from God, it left a God-shaped hole in the heart of every human. We've tried everything to fill up that gnawing, aching void: relationships, food, sex, entertainment, drugs, alcohol, money, careers, you name it: humans have tried it. Like the puzzle hole that only one unique piece can fill, only God can complete us.
He wants a relationship with us. Not a religion. Not a set of rules, regulations, deals, negotiations, traditions, or requirements. But from the beginning of time, we said "No, no thanks, I'm good." Then, ironically, because of that statement, because of the Great Separation, we fell into sin. There are a lot of misconceptions about sin. It's not a list of no-no's, it isn't the Ten Commandments, and it isn't about legalism. Sin is everything that violates God's nature and forces a wedge between us and Him. Sin has made us unholy. God is holy and anything unholy that comes into His presence will be destroyed. So, He made a way, through Jesus.