Solstice Sweat Lodge

A poem I wrote about a recent sweat lodge experience-

Gone, gone, completely gone!

Onto the path of enlightened joy

Dancing in this loving intoxication,

like the bright butterfly spirits that dally around our ceremony

Empty with fasting and birdsong

I have surrendered my body unto the earth,

and now smell darkly sweet with its fragrance

Our sweat lodge ritual under the lush forest trees is blessed by the plants, animals, rocks and streams

Sublime cedar and sage smoke smudge us all

I to, am blazing as the fire, glowing like the red rocks

"Extinguish me", and "Let the burning, and steam purify every unclean thing within",

have become my lodge prayers

Into the dark circle we enter together

In the heavy wet heat we crawl as low as the humble salamander who greeted us

The stinging sound of sacred water being poured onto the ancient singing rocks

Brings forth songs, tears and realizations to bloom in the darkness

The spinning universe appears in every word, every leaf, every stone

We become cooked, opened, and thankful!

Cooked, opened and thankful

For this love of life

I am cooked,

opened,

and oh so very, very thankful!