Poem: "A Third Stage Woman"

something opens within me
that can never be closed again
a vulnerability
so wildly exposed
that only You
have the grace
to recognize me
this absolute and utter aloneness
seems to be what will be
for now
and today at the least
and possibly tomorrow
and the tomorrow after that
trust
seems the only way through this

but this aloneness
is not to be confused with loneliness
one is so magnificently powerful
that i am brought to my knees
arms outstretched to the heavens
tears steaming down my cheeks
and the other
so completely debilitating
that i am once again
brought to my knees
arms outstretched to the heavens
tears streaming down my cheeks

so much of the spiritual path looks like this
completely paradoxical
the old way and the new way
so seemingly identical
as to be indiscernible to the uneducated eye
and yet
the inward experience
so completely different
as to be inconceivable
that both could be experienced in the same body

it reminds me of a first and third stage relationship
codependent versus interdependent
for to the untrained eye
there is no way to decipher the difference
in both instances
the woman will appear to be serving her man
but the inner experience
of the radiant third stage woman
is so entirely different from the servitude of the first
that she would herself be confounded
as to be deemed serving anything
other than pure Source

but now second stage
this is a whole other matter
there is no confusion here
this is the woman serving solely herself
and this is vital and true and fully necessary
in her progression from codependence
to the liberation of interdependence
which will in truth look markedly the same
but will be utterly and completely
different from the other

and women all over the world
will continue to try
to circumnavigate this second stage
for this is the stage that completely confounds us
scares, bewilders, and terrifies us
we freeze and we become like statues
unable to move for fear of our complete and certain death
but truly the day will come
when we will discover for ourselves
there is no way to the other side
but through

and these women that dare
to extricate from the masses
and live a life fully and utterly alone
at least for a time
they will appear callous and cold
self centred
uncaring
aloof and withdrawn
and the fear of full and complete independence
will be etched in every crevice of their skin
every gesture of their body
will scream it's pending annihilation
but surely one day
they will learn to dance
and surely one day
they will dare to venture
out through the field
past the confines and fences
they built around their very selves

and to those women
i send you love today
for you are exactly where you need to be
truly enroute to the Divine
to the day where you will once again
serve your lover
this time with your heart
open, exposed, vulnerable and free
your service now offered with true joy
this new bliss of co-creation with the masculine
now marked on the very same skin

but the road will not be easy
for the men of the world will not trust you
you will be rare and precious and true
and the very thing that the masculine craved
now standing right in front of him
once accepted and received
because he so fully needed it
will now be pushed away
untrustable in the face of it's luminosity
denied in the face of it's offering
unacceptable in the face of it's freedom

for who can trust a woman that needs nothing in return
and who can trust a woman that gives of herself
so freely
with nothing asked but his love
his worship
his loyalty
his reverence
his admiration
his complete and absolute unshakable commitment
all of these things that cost nothing
and yet, they are far too much to ask
aren't they.....