Hubris

A Valentine to the Fountain of Age

Waking Point

by Helen Noakes

Fontevrault, France, October 2004.
Fontevrault, France, October 2004.

“Older, we must move, and stay, and move again, to keep our life-giving ties alive, for this movement is our fountain of age. And there’s a freedom in realizing this, a new freedom to move or stay, new necessities and possibilities of choice.”—Betty Friedan

Helen NoakesSAN FRANCISCO California—(Weekly Hubris)—2/13/12—

 

And so, one day, I left my old familiar vessel

And stepped out barefoot onto shores

Spied only in the wisdom-fraught word

Of my forgotten dreams;

I traveled deep into my own silence

Over uncharted territories of memory’s landscapes

Crossed white giant ice floes of desire

Breathed scents of jasmine on a balmy night

Lit the dark labyrinth

Embraced my Minotaur

Reduced nightmares to folly

And, trembling but triumphant,

Stood free

Of pain

Of need

Of hope;

The only sound

The beating of my heart

And for a millisecond or

An eternity

One with the Universe

I traveled deep into my own silence.

 

Helen Noakes is a playwright, novelist, writer, art historian, linguist, and Traditional Reiki Master, who was brought up in and derives richness from several of the world’s great traditions and philosophies. She believes that writing should engage and entertain, but also inform and inspire. She also believes that because the human race expresses itself in words, it is words, in the end, that will show us how very similar we are and how foolish it is to think otherwise. (Author Head Shot Augment: René Laanen.)

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