CHANGING WOMAN

Photo by S. Auberle
sculpture artist unknown

CHANGING WOMAN

Changing Woman is a Navajo deity

She carries herself like a gift
this season--tall and erect.
In the new, moist heat of summer
her hair has turned electric,
curly, a silver halo surrounding
her face in the mirror and she feels holy,
though she thinks often of bees and honey,
the rich smell of damp leaves and earth,
the fierce mating of hawks, how they plunge
and spin out of control.

She wonders if she is alone too much,
for it's hard to look in people's eyes.
She sees nakedness there, reflecting her own
and is glad, then, to return home
to the path she walks in early evening
where light haloes trees and flowers,
and the air is sweet like honey.
She is happy to be alone again
and carries herself like a gift,
feeling holiness everywhere.

- mimi