On the day my Teacher's heart
spoke leaving
She bade me draw a card from
the Rider Tarot deck
The Cards' symbols She said
read images of journey, and the Pentacles
that were laid out spoke
of the crafting of
Manhood through apprenticeship

In the last card I think I saw You
in a light blue blocked dress
flowers in your hand and a smile on your lips
your Golden hair capturing the Sun
and making the Moon blush
There was sweetness in your touch
but I did not know you and I doubted the Road

My Teacher's face was not seen in the
cards of the Future
and I could not bear walking the world without
her strength, her Love and honestly her Attention
Teacher, Sister, Lover, Friend
and almost Mother of our child

I had not yet realized by a tinker's mile
the full value of her lessons
I denied the Fortune of the cards and sought
to keep her close
But the days and nights kept revealing that She
was my Past and that She
was not my Destiny

A dark man from the East with wealth and
carriage dressed in tunics of cotton
with rings of precious gems and short
straight black hair
appeared and sought and won
her favour
promising a World tour
to commence in two weeks time

I walked by the Ocean at sunset and sang her
name on the winds,
painted her name in the sand
and her picture in the stars
I tried to hold back the tears
but this was in vain

One afternoon soon after
She met me for the last time
She washed my feet, and now her eyes shed tears
She had given me back the gift of Desire, and
clothed me in the richness of Texture
and connected me to the Earth, bringing me back
from the Golden Cloud beyond touch and beyond
words where I had flown renouncing this life

To my surprise
She sang my praises and gave me thanks for a
glimpse, long moments spent in
the ethereal realm of Silver and Gold
that I had provided her

As we stood there our bodies were warm and wet
from her tiled shower and we
embraced

I remembered back to how
it was her tears on my forehead that had awakened
me from that Dream which was so close, so near to
Death
I cried for days on end, hugging the shoreline,
from the time I learned
that my Teacher's heart spoke leaving

The salt from my tears
blended with the Sea and fled West as
She traveled East with her Dark Lover

end Part I