Poem for writerverse

[meridian_rose]

Title: The Grail and the Goddess
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original
Pairings (if any): no direct pairings but m/f pairings alluded to
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/RPF etc): Religious content; Includes views regarding the nature of the Grail that some may find offensive
Summary: The Grail is a symbol of the divine feminine and without it we are lost

For the writerverse challenge, Write a Sestina: What is a Sestina

Admittedly this is a rambling and fantastical, near stream-of-consciousness piece, constrained only by the rules of the sestina. It draws on diverse themes including the Fisher King, the modern day wasteland, fairy tales that put the onus on the prince to claim a princess rather than the king proving himself worthy of the queen/goddess, alchemy, and how the mystical Otherworld still exists in the realm of imagination and dreams if we but look for it. The Grail is a symbol of the divine feminine, and of cooperation and peace, and the healing of the earth, the mind, the body and the soul.

The Grail and the Goddess

Goddess, Empress, Mother, Queen,
All the arts are hers, both magic and science
Who cannot harm cannot heal, and her knowledge of poison
Lets her bring death or sleep, and thus dreaming
In her own dreams she reaches for a goblet of copper
Studded with emeralds and rubies; the Grail

Whom does this serve is the question of the Grail
Without it no man can become King, nor marry the Queen
She clasps the goblet. Her hair, burnished copper
Lies about her shoulders. This is not science
This is magic, this is the Otherworld, the land of dreaming
Yet as real, as a steel sword or the taste of poison

She can heal the land, rid it of the poison
That has rendered it infertile, inert, for lack of the Grail
If the right words are spoken by the one who is dreaming
She can show her true self, wear the mantle of Queen
She can use her sacred arts, her magic, her science
To bring restoration. She lifts the vessel of copper

The sacred cup, and pours liquid from it. It is copper
Coloured in the sunlight. It is both elixir and poison
A panacea unknown to science
This is the miracle of the Grail
That can only be performed by a Queen
And only in the world of imagination, in dreaming

A sleeping Queen is dreaming
Of her consort and when he comes, his kiss tastes like copper
Cold, metallic. Not lusty merely dutiful, a kiss to win a Queen
No fairy tales tell of after, when love turns sour and she turns to poison
No fairy tale ends with the Queen choosing to own the Grail
To be her own true contradictory self. The choice is magic or science.

Once were sciences which we now call art, and the arts what we now deem science
Time moves on and the world changes in ways not imagined even when dreaming
Once gifted to the deserving; now a blood stained relic sought out, fought over; this is the Grail
And where reverence has been replaced by conquest, so gold turns to mere copper
And there is only wasteland, every living thing touched by this poison
Only by balance can restoration be achieved, the King in concert with the Queen

The ancient alchemy, early science, sought for gold, yet rarely found even copper
But in dreaming, we see the alchemy is of the soul, to be pure and free of poison
Spiritual healing is the gift of the Grail, and she who holds it a Queen

---

Comments

[eternal-moonie.livejournal.com]

WOOHOO!!!!!

Absolutely love it hon!

[meridian_rose]

Thank you so much :D *hugs*

[hrhrionastar.livejournal.com]

This is beautiful. I like the struggle between magic and science, and the theme of poison and cure :D

[meridian_rose]

Thank you :D Somehow it became about duality and once you pick the endwords you have to keep using them. Sestinas are difficult :D
A witch who can't curse, can't heal is something I'm fascinated by, so that had to be included ;D

[brontefanatic.livejournal.com]

No fairy tales tell of after, when love turns sour and she turns to poison
No fairy tale ends with the Queen choosing to own the Grail
To be her own true contradictory self. The choice is magic or science.

Only by balance can restoration be achieved, the King in concert with the Queen.

How sad that we have lost the magic - the balance - and the grail. There is something missing in the world.

A lovely, lyrical piece of work containing many haunting truths.

[meridian_rose]

Thank you. There's a lot of this imagery in Phyllis Curott's work, where she likens our world to the wasteland of the Fisher King - devoid of the divine feminine and the balance that brings, and with it respect for the earth and bounty for all. The Grail is everywhere that people choose equality over competition and love over hate, and as such there can be healing if we seek it.