There You Are, Lovely Light

The Appearance

From beyond

bare sycamores
rooted in heartache,
a light glows.

Barely seen
when moon is bright
dominating night
like a hoot owl
defining darkness,
and yet, there you are, lovely light.

I am always surprised—
so far away, crossing
ravines of doubt.

So mundane am I,
brushing my teeth,
dreaming
at the window.

When
I’m not
searching for you—
you appear.

We stand at a crossroads

Will U.S. voters choose a gateway of love for each other and Mother Earth or will we choose a gateway to ruin?

In this national election November 3, let’s elect people who will unlock cages to free children at our border, who care about the more than 228,000 Americans dead of this pandemic—as of this writing, more than 1,000 per day—who care about systemic injustice and about planet Earth trembling on the verge of chaos from the climate crisis.

We are severely wounded. Let us elect healers. We need government officials who will listen to scientists, who will be true public servants. Public service is not about self-aggrandizement. It is, as the name says, about service.

On Samhain, when the veil between the worlds is thin, we bid farewell to the 1.17 million citizens of Earth who have died of COVID-19. May they rest in peace. May those who love them be comforted.

As the wheel turns, this year nears its end, and we look forward to rebirth at Yule.

Stand with Hekate, the Greek goddess who listens with the inner ear, the Old One, who brings wisdom to the crossroads. She stands under a full moon radiating strength and promising rebirth. She is a healer.

In this election, people of the U.S. face life-altering choices: fresh hope for Mother Earth and all her creatures, or a further degradation of what it means to be human and a descent into an ugly underworld fraught with worsened spiraling climate crisis consequences.

Only those blinded by greed or those in denial fail to notice the floods, storms, draughts wildfires, melting ice, and rising seas.

Now is the time to act—to educate ourselves; to study candidates’ positions up and down the ticket; and to vote for those who will help heal this nation whether president, congresspeople or local school boards and city councils.

Congressman John Lewis of Georgia, the civil rights leader who died July 17, wrote these words in an essay to be published upon the day of his funeral:

“Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself.

“Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble.

“Voting and participating in the democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.”

Visit www.vote411.org to see personalized voting information such as what’s on your ballot and where your polling place is, candidates’ positions on issues, and numbers to call to report election day problems. Multilingual assistance is available at those numbers.

Please keep in mind Donald Trump’s path—

Scientists and physicians ridiculed.
Children locked in cages.
White supremacists told to “stand by.”
Our fallen heroes denigrated.
Clean air, water and land besieged.
Backs turned on our allies.
Dictators admired.
The office of president exploited for self-enrichment.

It seems this election has been going on forever, and we may be tiring. We have watched debates, studied candidates at the League of Women Voters’ vote411.org, voted, mailed post cards to voters, made phone bank calls, posted reminders on social media, and marched and demonstrated. We are ready to be done, but we cannot quit now.

Hope subsists on a bed of pain, barely breathing. Let us surround her and lift her. We, the people, rise with her to say no to hate and yes to love.

I pray that we wrap ourselves in the purple cloak of the Wise Woman who guides us at the crossroads. Hers is the authentic power of knowing dark secrets—and the authentic power to step forward onto the path of life and light.

May it be so.
Nan Lundeen