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~ By Courtesy of Others ~

Beautiful

Your face is beautiful to me, Beloved,
The chiseled planes, angular as runes,
Every shadow, each deeply etched line and crease.
What others find too harsh,
I see as testament
To battles fought, wisdom gained, grief endured.
In every line, a victory
Of Self over self.
Where others see severity,
I see strength born of love and loss,
Wisdom bought with blood,
And the grace only One who has passed through death
And grasped its secrets
Can achieve.
I cherish every crease.

Your voice is beautiful to me, Beloved,
Its many nuances and moods--
Whispers, throaty growls, sharp commanding steel,
Tender murmurs.
For years I sought to shut You out,
To block the sound of Your voice, calling to me
With a howling like wolves,
Like the wind,
But Your voice compels, it entices, it lures me,
Sweet as honey, sharp as the point of Your spear,
Potent as mead.
Your call cannot be ignored.
I am drunk on Your words, Odin,
And the tones with which You utter them.
I cherish Your voice--
And most of all when it speaks my name.

Your scars are beautiful to me, Beloved,
The hollow socket and puckered lid
From which You tore Your eye,
Twin to the single orb of brilliant blue
That penetrates my very soul
And sees into my most hidden places.
The scars You bear,
Of battle and of sacrifice--
A rope-burned neck
Where You hung from the Tree,
The white tracery between Your ribs,
Mark of Your spear where it pierced You,
A weary heart stained with tears shed
For a lost love, a lost child,
For all Your children.
These scars I cherish, Odin,
As You cherish the broken and scarred places
Within me.
We are both wounded wanderers, You and I.
Let us walk together, hand in hand,
Seeking, learning,
Healing.

© Laure Lynch     Gate of the Slain     Odhroerir Fellowship

Author of Odhroerir: Nine Devotional Tales of Odin's Journeys
and Water from the Well And Other Wyrd Tales of Odin

Image: "Denethor and Gandalf", detail, © Harri Perälä. Used by permission.

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