I’ve seen the photos of the past—
You standing on the Porch by candlelight,
Hair long and dark like a curtain
From behind which you waited to emerge.
How odd to reconcile that image
With the woman i met years hence!
No more did the locks hang down, dragging
As a heavy cloth spun by the Fates—
Instead i saw you bright and fiery, sporting
A nest of snakes cropped to fluorescent perfection.
I wonder sometimes
About your chrysalis on the Gulf,
The house and home you emerged from
With wings of delicate glamour;
Wish that i might have known you
In those awkward years of discovery.
Yet have we not discovered worlds together?
You who stood beside me staring into The Starry Night,
Partner on the dancefloor (and living room floor) countless times—
Margarita-soaked evenings and blood red wine offered to Kali…
Indeed, we have shared our own magickal transformations
From scholars to stylists, wretches to rockstars,
You are a Gorgon, a Goddess,
Whitmanesque Wise Woman,
I could never put in words the joy
Of watching you blossom, ripen,
Love, and be loved.