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Poem # 6: Until This Very Bed Trembles (Catch the Bride’s Bouquet Series)
The series title alludes to Leonard Cohen’s song The Gypsy’s Wife (Cohen, 2001),
when Gypsy finds his wife he catches her bridal bouquet in surrenders to her love.
In my book, The World’s Geography of Love, I detail what happens when we surrender our living
to the influence of the feminine archetypal energies.
Lay me down to rest
on a bed spanning the abyss
that lies between my love and I.
Compose a canopy of stars above
and I’ll imagine heaven while I wait in hell
for my love’s embrace to free me.
This sixth poem of the series is a eulogy expressed by the goddess Isis for her lover and brother-consort Osiris.
Osiris has been brutally slain by his brother Seth and strewn about Egypt. Isis mourns for many months
while she seeks out his 13 dismembered parts before reassembling Osiris with her love.
(Houston, 1995; Simpson, 2003)
Play “Until This Very Bed Trembles” Poem
Lay me down to rest
on a bed spanning the abyss
that lies between my love and I.
Spin the retted flax, weave linen bridal sheets,
braid rosemary garlands to
capture him when he passes.
Lay me down to rest
on a bed spanning the abyss
that lies between my love and I.
Unguents swell their jars, perfume the air
his lips quiver forth songs of devotion
sweetly anointing me.
Lay me down to rest
on a bed spanning the abyss
that lies between my love and I.
Where my wretched self’s embraced
and my limbs are restored
to service for dancing love,
until this very bed trembles above the abyss.
