Artemis
You are the triple goddess
the triple moon goddess
who engenders
visions in me.
From far off you shoot
and I ascend
and descend
you carry me from light
into shadows
and again toward light
and toward terror.
You are the good mother
the one with multiple breasts
who nurtures everything alive
the hunter virgin
who wants to cross the horizon
the voracious destroyer
the force that leads
and transforms me.
Out flight is nocturnal
and we fly and we fly
Artemis
and I drink your milk
and we cross galaxies
and I nurse serpents
in my flight
and I cradle death
between my breasts
and death is alive
it shines
and I follow the flight of your arrow
and I lose you
Artemis
and I descend into the abyss
and death shrinks
and becomes a mummy
and I am here again
with my eyes open
that saw darkness
in the stars
and they don't want to close
and there is earth in them
and there is stellar dust.
Help me Artemis
my eyelids weigh upon me:
a cradle song
or your sure arrow.
.
by Claribel Alegria
from Sorrow
Curbstone Press, 1999
.