August 4~ JESS FOX

It's a short week here at SHINE, but I'm happy to kick it off with the work of Jess Fox, who hails from Arizona. Here's "Gravity" and "The Call Within." Thank you, Jess, for sharing your words with SHINE!

Gravity

I still see round cheeks when I close my eyes,
Feel tiny fingers folding into mine,
Hear hushed breaths rise and fall against my chest.

South signs, sweet lullabies sung in the still of night--
A language only Mothers know.

I was the sun, and you, my moon,
Pulling tides with every sleepy smile.

Gravity held me in orbit around the fire of your little hearts.

Warrior mothers learn to share their children when love turns sharp,
When longing lingers, when half a life must somehow now be enough.

Fathers may forget the womb that wove these previous hearts,
The home that held their pure souls,
But no curtain-- now matter how cruelly stitched--
Can sever what is sacred.

We are woven,
A pattern unreadable, a thread that time cannot tangle.

We were promised forever.
I still believe in that.

One day, our garden will bloom in the sun,
Wild and wondrous, radiant and rooted,
Wrapped in the arms of Divine Love.

I dream of you.
I cry for you.
I cry for me.

But always, we will find each other.
Through shadow and sorrow, silence and space,
We return, relentless and radiant.
Because we are peace. Because we are love.

My darlings, look to the moon--
Wherever I am, my light reaches for you,
Even in the deepest dark.

You are my warmth, my song, my meaning.

And when the path is hidden, when the night feels endless,
We trust the source of all Light--
The force that forged us, the love that leads us--
Until we rise,
Until we are whole,
Until we are free.

The Call Within

It's calling me from my bones,
That place where grief meets grit--
A quiet anger, tempered by weariness of years,
But still a spark, a fight.

The part of me that knows-- I am not alone.
We all carry our burdens,
Our demons,
Our antagonists who shadow us
In the quiet hours of the night.
Worrying, howling to the moon with wet faces.

I answer the call.
The angel's voice,
The lion's roar,
The fierce goodness of nature herself--
Entwined with the tapestry
Of Women who walked before me.

I will not stop.
I will not break.

Strong, brave, wild, free.
I stand in their echo and hear their call.

You can try to tear down, abuse or erode,
But my souls, like stone starved by the sea,
Will not crumble.
For I am shaped by forces stronger than fear--
By time, by blood, by my Mother's hands,
Who has built, and burned, and rebuilt again.

The boldness of my creation is not a mistake,
Not a thing to be quieted or tamed.
It is an ember carried through by generations,
Lit by the mother's, grandmothers, and daughters yet to come.

And we will not be silenced.

They rise with me.
Like an army.
Like a river breaking the dam.
Like thunder rolling through the marrow of the earth.

Blessed are the peacemakers--
But peace is not the absence of the storm.
It is the knowing,
The unshakable certainty,
That I have been prepared for this moment
Since the foundation of the world.

What power does the wind have over the sea?
It rages. It crashes.
But the sea will always be.

And so will we.

JESS FOX is a Mental Health Therapist residing in Flagstaff, AZ. She is a single mom, abuse survivor, post-Mormon, bisexual woman living in liberation that came at a high cost. You can find more of her writing on IG @OF_ANDROMEDA and professional work @wildwomenwell.

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