Surrender into the Belovéd

The invitation comes: lean into the Belovéd. 

Trust, surrender to the embrace of none other
than God. You must let yourself dissolve,

so risk it; just lean into the Belovéd.
Easy said. I resist. Don’t smother
me, I cannot give in, however much I crave 

release. How long before my fear dissolves? 
Leaning instead into the scent of mother
as she passes. She disappears, elusive.

Risk it. Just lean into the Belovéd.
Then, when the soft wings of Infinity covered
my naked vulnerability with love,

surrender undid me and I dissolved.                
A bird sang; it’s me singing. There’s no “other”;
the Belovéd resolves into the loved,

moment to moment, there is none other,
no sister, wife, daughter, mother.
Guard dropped, leaning into the Belovéd, 
surrender undid me and I dissolved.

© Tina Shettigara 2022

Sequoia lovers: a villanelle

Sequoia lovers: a villanelle

As lovers to each other these two trees are drawn

And reach upward to infinity’s meeting place,

While woven roots entwined, resist the storm.

As lovers whose hearts, one to one, are drawn

Through all eternity, their limbs embrace

And succour and support flow, one to one;

Entwined, their woven roots resist the storm.

Rock disallows a tap root down to brace,

Yet fingers, weaving outwards, shall not be torn.

As lovers to each other, day, night and dawn

Inseparable, these two their spirits do co-enlace

And in each other’s strength, each is relied upon,

With woven roots that cannot be undone,

And as ages pass their twoness they misplace

As into each other eternally they are grown.

So may it be, with lovers, cross all space

That they should strengthen each with endless grace,

Lean into each other, as lovers, tightly drawn,

Enmesh their base, and so resist the storm.

©Tina Shettigara 2014

https://www.hikespeak.com/trails/north-grove-calaveras-big-trees-state-park-hike/

Giant Sequoia have a shallow matted root system and no tap root. For such a massive tree it looks odd to find them so commonly growing very close together, however this is advantageous to them as by entwining their roots they give each other stability. I love big trees and always feel quite moved by them.  They are ancient giants, and this "twinning" seemed to me to be totally romantic.

This poem arose to honour the wedding of my eldest daughter. It is therefore dedicated to Chaitanya and Dan.

An Australian Gardener's Thanksgiving

An Australian Gardener’s Thanksgiving

Summer’s cornucopia overflows with gifts

And garden delights are offered fresh each day,

At the altar of long days; grateful, my heart lifts.

So that this cornucopia overflows with gifts

The summer-dry’s combatted with mains water spray

And shrouds of shade-cloth in massive tented drifts.

At the altar of long days, grateful, my heart lifts,

To pick the tender beans, tomatoes ripe and basil spray,

Even darkest moods this bounty lightly shifts.

And as this cornucopia overflows with gifts

The birdsong in the trees is a loud hooray

For life. I drink the sweet rose scent in sniffs.

At the altar of long days, grateful, my heart lifts.

Though sun-burnt plants shrivel sometimes and die

Though disease attacks, or laden fruit tree rifts,

Yet I am glad each spring to obey

The call to plant, and tend and work the clay

So summer’s cornucopia will overflow with gifts

And at the altar of long days, grateful, my heart lifts.

©Tina Shettigara 2015