The Mother (For Lucy)
In the beginning, origin
start, beginning of all beginnings
was the Mother.She came from nothing
created herself and had children
in her image and likeness.From her being, like a magic fountain
life was born,
and from this life more life arose.
Her daughters inherited her womb and breasts,
from which flow the rivers of generations,
from which flow the waters of life, first food
for humanity’s children.In the beginning, origin
was the Mother.From her came the anxious night-watching,
from her came tenderness and measureless sacrifice,
from her came unconditional, infinite love,
and just as the wind that buffets the mountains
transforms them,
she, blowing with the force of love,
created her children.In the beginning, origin
was the Mother.And where she stayed a dwelling arose
and where her arms were
there was a cradle
and where she was became a home.
There the heirs of the species
lit a fire.In the beginning, origin
was the Mother.From her came the spring she invented for our enjoyment;
from her the army of light for our consolation;
and in secret meetings with the moon
she decided on the perpetuity of ovular cycles.She engendered being and non-being.
Oh Kali terrifying goddess of love and death!
Oh Persephone princess of the world of the dead!
Oh Astarte-Ishatar despite yourself great lady of shadows!In the beginning, origin
was the Mother.She divided light from darkness,
survived all dangers
and killed and murdered to feed her young,
defending her cubs to the death.She, the holy creator, separated things out,
gave them names, bestowed on us word and logos,
reason, law and memory.In the beginning, origin
was the Mother.And she walked with her species
over the parched African plains
and knew heat and cold, exhaustion and hunger,
but she wandered the planet from end to end,
extreme to extreme.She, the initial and central, the small and vulnerable
but powerful as the earth’s blind instrument,
she perpetuated herself in each of us
and her bones still stiffen our bones
and her blood flows in our veins.Oh first Mother, you the Great Sweetness,
today love calls you.In the beginning, origin, there was only the Mother.
[March 1998]
Translated by Dinah Livingstone
Page(s) 73-75
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