After the Ritual
By
Radiance Angelina Petro
After the ritual
ritual continues.
Consider new and old
passageways–walk them,
or not, change directions,
or not. Life explores
you, nudges you
inwards and outwards
with such wild
anticipation and faith
it can barely hold in
its joy and surprise.
Reason and observe
how ways open
and close, expand,
contract. Count blessings–
not as things to accumulate,
but as provisions to use
in lean times, and by use,
I mean, share. Every step
and pause is reverence
for ground and sky,
backspace, and front–
each exhale and inhale,
and holding of breath–
ceremonies for that
precious, holy, mischievous
moment of the remembrance
of the sacred shadow
who moves with us everywhere
we go and don’t go,
until that time when we merge
with it, grow wings,
lift and soar, bank, and rise
into the darkness of another
sleep and awakening
in the universal womb
where sperm and egg
reassemble us cell by cell,
bone by bone, blood
with blood, dream
by dream, ritual
by ritual.