October Song - Robin Williamson - ISB

I'll sing you this October song.
Oh, there is no song before it.
The words and tune are none of my own
for my joys and sorrows bore it.

Beside the sea,
The brambly briars in the still of evening.
Birds fly out behind the sun
and with them I'll be leaving.

The fallen leaves that jewel the ground
They know the art of dying.
And leave with joy their glad gold hearts
In the scarlet shadows lying.

When hunger calls my footsteps home
The morning follows after.
I swim the seas within my mind
And the pine trees laugh green laughter.

I used to search for happiness
And I used to follow pleasure
But, I found a door behind my mind
And that's the greatest treasure.

For rulers like to lay down laws
And rebels like to break them.
And the poor priests like to walk in chains
And God likes to forsake them.

I met a man whose name was Time
And he said, "I must be going".
But just how long ago that was
I have no way of knowing.

Sometimes I want to murder time,
Sometimes when my heart's aching.
But mostly I just stroll along
The path that he is taking.

I'll sing you this October song.
Oh, there is no song before it.
The words and tune are none of my own
for my joys and sorrows bore it.

Hags and Crones and Bags of Bone
by Wilderness Sarchild

hags and crones and bags of bone
the time is short, this life on loan
oh, to live as long as stones
oh, for that, i do so jones
not ready to weep or rot or moan
just want to do what is my own
oh, to be a goddess crone
to sing a song that’s out of tone
to not care if i’m unknown
or even if i’m in the zone
these are the seeds that i have sown
OLD HAG, OLD CRONE, OLD BAG OF BONE!

oh, must i grow old for all to see?
a shriveled old face thou has given me
can’t you see i just want to be free?
don’t wanna grow old, just let me be
old age is an incredibly high fee
to pay for the key to a long life for me
there goes my knee, there leaks my pee
oh, my god, POOR ME, POOR ME!

hey wait, my body might look like it’s in decay
but believe me, sister, i still have lots to say
about not wanting to look any other way
and i tell you, the piper i will not pay
if he tries to say, “dear, you’ve had your day.”
no matter what, i’ll do it my way
won’t ask if i might or if i may
believe me, i have lots to say
and i can be bitter and i can be gay
at no one’s feet will i lay
and don’t try to tell me nay
i will not let you get in my way
i am 60 and i say OKAY! OKAY!

i like growing old
don’t have to do what i’m told
i can be crotchety and bold
no need to fit into any mold
don’t buy the bill of goods they sold
about being old
doesn’t mean i’m out in the cold
i can still go for the gold
won’t put my life on hold
i have a story that needs to be told
about GROWING OLD, GROWING OLD!

ain’t easy carrying all these years
i’m a bundle of laughter, a bushel of tears
i may be brave but i still have fears
don’t hear as good inside these ears
don’t always like what i see in the mirrors
but i ain’t about to drown in my beers

i’ll just get myself in gear
cause my inner voice is loud and clear
she says “go, gal, no more boos or jeers”
you are still the one who steers
THIS PRECIOUS LIFE THAT YOU HOLD DEAR

i call on all the ages inside me to awake
maiden, mother and crone for goodness sake
come out, come out please do not forsake
all that is female is what is at stake
gather our power like the earth at quake
and use it for justice. Awake! Awake!
my bones may carry years of heart ache
but i will not break, i will not break
all these years are what will help me make
a commitment to continue to bake the cake
of sweetness for a world gone fake
i tell you, this old gal’s is AWAKE! AWAKE!

i join with the ancestors in the circle round
they’re watching my back, these souls in the ground
they lived through the fire because they are bound
to come back again until i am found
they will not shut up, they’ll push and they’ll pound
until they see my power come back around
into my dance and into my sound
around my soul their love does wound
these many in me, they do astound
they teach me to believe i do abound
MY POWER I’VE FOUND! MY POWER I’VE FOUND!

so bring it on, this thing called age
it will only serve to make me sage
i’ll make growing old all the rage
and when i die, there will still be this page
to remind all women that age is not a cage
and not a barometer to gauge
but an invite to enter into a brand new stage
age is purple and red, not the new beige
so, remember this women,
“RAGE!” I say, “ RAGE!”

so call me a hag, a crone, or a witch
why, you can even call me a bitch
but you may not yet dig my ditch
while i can still dance and i can still itch
to be young again, i would not switch
i tell you, getting old is not a glitch
cause in love and friends i’ve struck it rich
and so it’s still my turn to pitch
and to this old wagon i will hitch
i think that i have found my niche
stir the cauldron, not wear a stitch
A NAKED CRONE, A WISE OLD WITCH!

The Kama Sutra of Kindness
Position no.2
by Mary Mackey

should I greet you
as if
we had merely eaten
together one night
when the white birches
dripped wet
and lightning etched
black trees on your walls?

it is not love
I am asking

love comes from years
of breathing
skin to skin
tangled in each other's dreams
until each night
weaves another thread
in the same web
of blood and sleep

and I have only
passed through you quickly
like light

and you have only
surrounded me suddenly
like flame

the lake is cold
the snows are sudden
the wild cherry bends
and winter's a burden

in your hand I feel
spring burn in the bud.

dedicated to Sandy Stewart and John....for all their years together !

The Kama Sutra of Kindness:
Position Number 3
by Mary Mackey

It's easy to love
through a cold spring
when the poles
of the willows
turn green
pollen falls like
a yellow curtain
and the scent of
Paper Whites
clots
the air

but to love for a lifetime
takes talent

you have to mix yourself
with the strange
beauty of someone
else
wake each morning
for 72,000
mornings in
a row so
breathed and
bound and
tangled
that you can hardly
sort out
your arms
and
legs

you have to
find forgiveness
in everything
even ink stains
and broken
cups

you have to be willing to move through
life
together
the way the long
grasses move
in a field
when you careen
blindly toward
the other
side

there's never going to be anything
straight or predictable
about your path
except the
flattening
and the springing
back

you just go on walking for years
hand in hand
waist deep in the weeds
bent slightly forward
like two question
marks
and all the while it

burns
my dear
it burns beautifully above
you
and goes on
burning
like a relentless
sun

Dedicated with Love
to friends
who’ve shared with us
joys and elations,
sorrows and aggravations
And
to persons everywhere
who deeply care,
who are aware,
and seek to share
intimacy.

by UU Rev. Ron Mazur 1973

*****************************************************************

A Prayer to Humankind

Hear, O Humankind, the prayer of my Heart.

For are we not one, have we not one desire,
to heal our Mother Earth and bind her wounds?
And still to be free as the spotted Eagle climbing
the laughing breath of our Father Sky,
to hear again from dark forests and flashing rivers the varied ever-changing Song of Creation.

O Humankind, are we not all brothers and sisters,
are we not the grandchildren of the Great Mystery?
Do we not all want to love and be loved, to work
and to play, to sing and dance together?
But we live with fear. Fear that is hate, fear
that is mistrust, envy, greed, vanity, fear that is
ambition, competition, aggression, fear that is
loneliness, anger, bitterness, cruelty.....and yet,
fear is only twisted love, love turned back on itself, love that was denied, love that was rejected.....

and Love.......
Love is LIFE - creation, seed and leaf
and blossom and fruit and seed, love is growth
and search and reach and touch and dance,
love is nurture and succour and feed and pleasure.........
Love is Pleasuring ourselves.......
Pleasuring each other......
love is Life believing in itself.

And Life.....

Life is the Sacred Mystery singing to itself, dancing to it's drum, telling tales, improvising, playing, and we are all that Spirit, our stories all
but one cosmic story that we ARE love indeed,
that perfect love in me seeks the love in you,
and if our eyes could ever meet without fear
we would recognize each other and rejoice
for love is life believing in itself.

O Humankind, we must stop fearing life,
fearing each other, we must absolutely
stop hating ourselves, resenting Creation....Life,
O Humankind, life is the only treasure.
We are the custodians of it, it is our sacred trust.
Life is wondrous, awesome and Holy, a burning glory,
and it's price is simply this : Courage.....
We must be brave enough to Love.

Hear my heart's prayer, O humankind,
trust in love, don't be afraid, I love you
as I love life, I love myself, please
love me too, for perfect Love,
as a wise one said, casts out all fear.
If we are to love there is no other choice,
for Love is Life believing in itself.

Above all,

Let us set the children free, break the traps
of fear that history has fashioned for them,
free to grow, to seek and question, to dance, to laugh,and sing..to be dreamers of tomorrow's Rainbows,

and if we but give them our trust
they will guide us to the New Creation,
for .............Love is life believing in itself.

Hear O Humankind, the Prayer of my Heart

Manitonquat - Medicine Story
Assonet / Wampanoag
printed in Return to Creation
by Medicine Story