O Shenandoah!
Stone of the She-Devil
When I was a child,
mother read to me
of a creature
who slept in trees,
bound to jungles
and the rainlands of Peru.
Crystal,
incandescent,
Quazhe flew
high above the arrows
of the natives,
and the venom in their
incantations,
imprecations
for the devil that was she.
Forest torching,
lace afire,
skin aflame,
they blazed her to an ashen plain and
built a statue in her stead
with prayers and cries
to rigid clay on
frozen stone --
know us,
move us,
please again,
Quazhe.
(1996)
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"... Rock on - ancient woman
Follow those who pale
In your shadow
Rulers make bad lovers
You better put your kingdom up for sale
Did she make you cry
Make you break down
Shatter your illusions of love
Is it over now- do you know how
Pickup the pieces and go home.Did s/he make you cry
Make you break down
Shatter your illusions of love
Is it over now -- do you know how
To pick up the pieces and go home"
-- Gold Dust Wo/man, lyrics by Stevie Nicks for Fleetwood Mac
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"There's a place for us,
Somewhere a place for us.
Peace and quiet and open air
Wait for us
Somewhere.
"There's a time for us,
Some day a time for us,
Time together with time to spare,
Time to learn, time to care,
Some day!
"Somewhere.
We'll find a new way of living,
We'll find a way of forgiving
Somewhere . . .
"There's a place for us,
A time and place for us.
Hold my hand and we're halfway there.
Hold my hand and I'll take you there
Somehow,
Some day,
Somewhere!"
-- lyrics to Somewhere from West Side Story
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".... The element of danger ... is a common feature of mystic experience. Mystical experience shatters an old self, and the mystic who faces nothingness risks becoming lost there.... she will be faced with radical freedom; she will have no guidelines to tell her how to act...." -- Diving Deep and Surfacing: Women Writers on Spiritual Quest by Judith P. Christ in Spiritual Success, Social Failure
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"....Can it be that it was all so simple then?
Or has time re-written every line?
If we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me, would we? could we?
Mem'ries, may be beautiful and yet
What's too painful to remember
We simply choose to forget...."
-- The Way We Were, by Barbara Streisand
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Where the heck am I? --
Whisk me away
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email countryrag@yahoo.com.
Original material © Jeannette Harris and O Shenandoah! Country Rag, 1997. All rights reserved.
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