TheBanyanTree: ....the moving image of eternity

[Sharon Mack]

Prompt for September 10, 2004 at my writing workshop

Complete the following sentence and use it as an opening line or
inspiration for your story or poem:

"Quiet yourself and focus inside and hear the rhythm of the times. 
Everything has a clock.  Everything is rhythm and time, even........."

OR

"Dancing through time she/we/he........"

OR

"........the moving image of eternity."


******************************
..........the moving image of eternity

......the moving image of eternity
has danced around the edges
and through the middle
of all that I am

when I was a child the image 
was my father
he was my eternity
and when I grew up
and out a bit further
it was my mother

he held my smallness 
and protected my life
he fed me
and bathed me
in the kitchen sink

and when I grew

she came to me in the night
to talk about life
her life
my life
and the future of things
about the boys
about sex
about love

in that order

and when I was a woman
God became my eternity
listening ever to my prayers
of fear
of yearning 
for the things 
she'd talked to me about

and when I became a wife
the image was a man
who stood between me and God
and allowed me to dwell
for a little while in his light
while taking me for a ride
upon his back
before he dropped me
and let me fall
fall....fall....fall


and when I became a mother 
my children were the image
of my eternity
they would continue on
in my image
and take the blood
beyond my borders and
into their worlds
beyond me
beyond my time

and now that I am old
the image of my eternity
is once again the God
whom I had left in the sands
beyond my roots
beyond my time
beyond my past
my present
my future
but who never left me
who walked beside me
who dwelt within me
in His eternity of love.

by Sharon L. Mack