Why can we not simply live these days
without concern for what new regime
will dictate archaic mandates,
as if we had slipped back into the 19th century,
when women bent under expectations
and had yet to rise in collective struggle—
for civil rights, equal rights, the vote,
gay rights, reproductive autonomy;

It feels like regression—
a retreat to Victorian parlors or 1950s kitchens,
where women were pressed into service
to men, to the Church,
to every patriarchal construct;

And yet—
here we are in the early dawn
of the Aquarian Age.
Tables will turn, that much is certain.
But do not think the powers that be
will lay down whips and chains willingly.
They will fight to the death
to preserve a dominion that excludes us all;

So many of us are weary,
souls frayed from a lifetime of struggle
just to exist,
just to claim the right
to inhabit our own bodies and souls;
And yet, another path whispers—
ears perk to possibility;
Shall we wait for salvation under a new rock,
a white horse galloping in to redeem us,
or can we summon strength enough
to believe in redemption within the chaos itself?

The truth may be—
no savior comes but the one abiding in our hearts;
We must save ourselves this time,
discover the Inner Redeemer,
take up the mantle in earnest,
becoming what we once sought outside;

Democracy is participatory.
Freedom extends only as far
as our willingness to embody it,
to remain vigilant, awake, inquisitive,
rather than mouthing rhetoric
fed to us from glowing screens;

This is the danger.
And this is the opportunity.

We are not powerless, nor alone.
As Marianne Williamson reminds us:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.”

So let us lift our gaze,
seek the truths that resonate,
and choose, at last,
the alternative to despondency.

Growth amidst the ruins, Hawaii Island, 2019 ~ bj