WHEN SPIRIT WALKS AMONG US

The Mermaid, Illustration for a book of poems,  © by Ruth Zachary

Nautilus

From her birth, a shell formed about her,

a cavity from which she alternately

expanded and recoiled, groped

toward nurture in unplumbed depths.

Light evaded her in nighttime shallows,

where she swam and backed away again

to black and silent darkling seas.

That floating spiral shell; silhouette

formed by sequential leave-takings

undefined by what she was, but by

chambers vacated and sealed behind.

Those who would cherish her saw only

the spiral path of her inward journey

from without, could know her only

as an alien species repelling love,

because, blind, deaf, and senseless,

love inherently longed for was

obscured for her, even when offered.

Mysteriously she threatened self-annihilation

to exact assurance that she was loved.

What mystery cast her soul

into that exiled hell, that matrix recess

to be tortured in vacuous chambers   

until she became its casting?

Shape shifting as in a chrysalis,

spiraling outward upon herself,

a nautilus growing toward its cusp;

following a trajectory that reversed

its course when suddenly

new illumination shone; she saw,

she heard and sensed; was kindled

by desire that urged her out.

Though past incarnations are still obscured,

she gives bitterness no quarter, now,

and praises God for her travail, the miracle

opening her to love, to be born again

as a little child with potential to transcend

her past; transform into any future form.

                                   © by Ruth Zachary

The Poem and Illustration of the Mermaid are included in my book,  

When Spirit Walks Among Us, 156 pages, Illustrated, and  published 

in 2013 by Xlibris. The Illustration does not appear in color in the book 

of poems. Illustrations are available in color. Contact me by leaving 

a message at the bottom of this post.The book is available through Amazon.