O Empress of my Life, Come! Sunday's Inspiration 10. A Soulful Dedication to Mary Norton

"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also …" KJV. (John: 14:1-3)

When I beheld Your beauty, my breath

Dissolved in wings of Light. I wanted

To pull the moon down, my Heart

A sacrifice, for the bewilderment of Thy gaze.

It is Your Love that adorns this garden,

Fragrantly blossoming, in the magic of daffodils.

The earth is as hallow as the heavens;

The bee as the honeysuckle on which it feeds.

I said: “I just want to see You, my Sweetheart.

You said: “What do you need?

I said: “Intensify my longing and my weeping.”

You replied: “What will you do then?”

I said: “Offer myself at the dust of Your feet.”

You replied: “Come, my child! What’s holding you back?”

I said: “I wish to take my brothers and sisters with me: mankind.”

You enquired: “What do you need?” I said: “Sweet sacrifice.”

You said: “Hush!” Don’t reveal all my secrets,

Just know that the eloquent, the down-trodden,

The rich and the poverty-stricken, the form and the

Formless, eventually dissolve in Me.

It is only I, my child. The rose does not blush in its

Nakedness, neither does the flowing river avoid the sea.

Then You left, like a life-long bride suddenly divorced,

Triggering the grief of separation.

Deep down in the agony of my despair,

I have dyed my wounded Heart with longing.

Carving a path for Thy return, I washed my soul

With tears, became feverish from day and night rants;

Developed incoherence, from calling out Thy name.

I am a chained melody, awaiting Thy peerless wine,

To sing unfettered, like the unfurling moon,

A birthless and deathless symphony.

In my sleep and in my waking;

My amnesia and hallucinations,

I see only You, my Sweetheart, only You.

In Thy absence, this Love is a hollow prison,

Awaiting Thy sweetness to be uncaged.

Aye … You’ve returned, like a bewildering angel,

Inundating this temple with kisses.

Lips incoherent; my tongue mute,

The earth massages my feet as I stumble,

Overwhelmed by an intoxication of Love.

I hear the enchantments of sparrows and nightingales –

Those sweet familiar sounds – resonating ecstasies in my core.

They soothe me in trance, like unfamiliar whispers,

A variety of song-bearers, wooing my being with Delight.

A new dawn comes dancing, harmonising a breath,

Now inconsistent with its natural tempo.

Daybreak caresses my face; comforting the Heart with its rays.

My ego dies, as You pour nectar into my being,

Trickling its way - like a fine vintage - into the profundity of the soul.

Behold! The stars are so beautiful!!

A thousand rays of incandescent Light,

Majestic … as luminous as the crimson sun.

I know naught but the intensity of Thy smile,

Tugging at my Heart with its sweetness;

The scented breath of Your silhouette,

Fervently kissing and charming my soul.

The arrow of true devotion,

Is an agony of longing, devouring my Spirit.

Only You, my Beloved, all else is meaningless to me.

Of what use is the skies limitless blue?

I shall blend in every Heart, on the day I blend in You.

Manatita, The Lantern Carrier 15^th September, 2019

I always think of Mary with tremendous Love. Perhaps it is because she has suffered, but then who hasn't? I hear you say, and you are right.

We all deal with it in different ways. I thought that my mother's death would not affect me so much and after all, she was sick and in a wheel chair for years! But I did cry at the funeral.

Anyway, Mary has a lot more going for her, of course. Like all of us, she is unique! Soft, dignified and graceful. Charming and with a great sense of fun as well as devotion to our Lord and His mother Mary.

A lover of life, she and her late beloved husband travelled extensively and she made sure to inspire us with the beautiful scenes that they encountered on their travels. Mary is incredibly kind, wholesome, cheerful and does not complain. She has a tremendous sense of empathy.

May God continue to bless you, my sweet Sister, now and until the end of time.

"Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ sends out his compassion to the world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good.@ - St Theresa of Avila