Athena's Laurel Calls My Journeyed Soul (New Poem)

Athena's Laurel Calls My Journeyed Soul
by Tim Kavi

oh I didn't know you were close to me
I thought it was just the stardust
or the whispering sea
I can see you still talk to me

across the history
glimpsing you
I thought I saw
a memory

there is only
the laurel leaves
scattered by the wind
where Owl watches over me

that is where the gentle
sounds of our love misgiven
led to bad steps
and misplaced heaven
the day the winged bird
took you away from me

I began the mountainous climb
a journey to the sacred heart
longing left me famished
my song carried no more rhyme

spirits were broken
the people were wandering
in the valley below
the shepherds were themselves lost
the leaders blinded by the dark
and the prisoners remained chained
against the rock

only the annointed ones
dare come up here
olive oil burns not only the lamp
but annoints my forehead

I cry out like a madman
there is no one to hear me
it echoes against the rocks
where lumber is free
from too many shipwrecks
skeletal hands clutching for
your Grecian shore

I try to find you
but in the darkness
you are not found anymore

what greatness is this?
your temples once majestic
lined a path upwards
up high to a cloudy
celestial throne
where once you blew me a kiss!

How did I know that kiss
was a good bye kiss
to me and the world?

now there is only ruin
return to Your Greatness
perhaps men will yet invoke
your name
rebuilding temples won't be the same

but there is still power
in the virtues
of your name

oh a calling
a certain shrill
breaks the night
and my stubborn will

I will climb up higher
I will look for you
and I will kiss you again
and again

can you imagine
how much I missed you?
your glory as a woman
is everywhere
yet the priests stop and stare
but in your Goddess face
is only the visitations
of everlasting grace

your look is on them too
that woman just killed
the male shame
of violence
makes me want to jump
off this hill

hear the words
priests too
the hour is late
there is much to do
respect Athena
and all her sisters
or tales of woe
will never be few

I will burn my skin
and twist my robe
pluck hairs from my head
pray pray pray
until the truth be said

stop my sisters'
blood running red!
Athena has now said!

so here I sit all night
your tears watered
pools at my feet
I can only bow my head and worship
Goddess come back
we are so sorry that some have hurt you

wear your laurel wreath again
entreaty forgive our sin
you think you bad ones can easily make right
but your weapons
and hate
and violence
must go away...

for Athena comes
in sacred flight.

More About Goddesses: Isis

More About Goddesses: Isis

by Tim Kavi

Isis is the Egyptian patron saint of magic and nature. Isis appears as protector of children and a protector of the dead. She is commonly depicted as being a friend to artists, sinners, slaves and the downtrodden, though she would also listen to the prayers of rulers, aristocrats, the wealthy and maidens.

Isis is the mother of Horus, the god of protection and war. Her name literally translates to “throne” and she wears a throne on her head to depict this, though it is believed that she was seen as a wife or assistant to deceased pharaohs in the Old Kingdom. She acts as a symbol of the power of the pharaoh, and the current pharaoh would frequently be depicted as her child, sitting on her throne. The myth of Isis became exceptionally popular in the Greco-Roman period, though the image of Isis mothering the leader of the Egyptian world was translated to an image of Mary suckling her son Jesus as the Christians moved to suppress “pagan” religions.

Temples to Isis were built throughout Rome, Iraq and Greece, though it was understood that Isis remained with her husband Osiris in Egypt. These temples would become home to healers believed to have special powers to control the weather or interpret dreams which was accessed by braiding the hair in a special way. The cult of Isis widely believed that knots held special power which could be accessed by adorning your body with them. Very little about the rituals of the Isis cult is known because they were disbanded during the Greco-Roman area.

It was frequently believed that her tears would cause the Nile River to flood. Isis would weep for the death of Osiris as he died and would become reborn each year, contributing to the flooding cycle that occurred each spring. Her cult remained quite local to this area, even after Egyptian mythology proceeded to spread to further reaches of the kingdom. Egypt is seen as her home, though she would see leaders on to the afterlife in some depictions. Isis is considered the mother of the four sons of Horus, the deities in charge of protecting the canopic jars which held a pharaoh’s internal organs after death. Isis was especially associated with Imesty, the protector of the liver jar.

In the New Kingdom, the role of Isis evolved as the cult of Ra rose in prominence. Ra was paired with Horus, and since Isis was paired with Horus, she rose in prominence throughout the ancient world. During this time, the myth of Isis and Osiris became one of the most important myths in Egyptian culture. Set murdered his brother Osiris in order to usurp the throne. Osiris’s wife Isis, brokenhearted, restored her husband’s body so she could conceive a son with him posthumously. This son was Horus, who would frequently battle Set for the throne, a battle which eventually became victorious. As Horus became the protector and representation of the pharaoh, Isis became the protector of the pharaoh who would see him to victory in his endeavors.