Soul-Wounds

Poetry is the language of soul-wounds—

the onomatopoeia of vulnerability,

stirring deep within the marrow of meaning,

magma of transcendent contemplation,

boiling into the rift

of chaos

and fissured brokenness

giving voice

to its hot lava of effusive wisdom,

which serves to acquaint

heaven and earth—

body and spirit—

as companions to tread the dawn of wholeness

together,

to prick the Eustacean scales

of masked affectation off,

and to apply the balm of poetic purpose

to the wounds of life,

            because in doing so,

the ineffable mystery of healing

            reveals the unblemished

                    and beautiful creature

            you were divinely inspired

To Be.

Notes: The image of poetry as "soul-wounds" was borrowed from Christian Wiman, editor of Poetry magazine, who used that term in a recent interview to describe poetry. I was captivated by the image instantly. The references to "dawn treading" and "Eustace" are lifted from CS Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, and are metaphors of life worthy of contemplation by adults as well as children.