The Magickal Pen

Image: Matthew Stewart

I sat alone within the walls I had built
Content, secure and at peace with the world.

I breathed the air of my own solemn exhalation
Feeling quite at home in this place of retreat.

Books lined shelves and whispered their tales as I slept
The rapture of each one’s journey my food and sustenance.

Night and day wove one into the other seamlessly and
This shroud of mystery held me willingly in its grasp.

Days and years passed without a nod of recognition
So enthralled was I by the seeking of knowledge arcane.

All that I had drawn into myself and sought to claim
Was etched by life’s sculpting upon the walls I had built.

Faces looking out with watchful and soul-filled lonely eye seeking
Others to break the spell and knock upon the door of my sanctuary.

All that I had drawn into myself and sought to claim now cried
Out in loneliness as the memory of my place in the world took hold.

I breathed out a sigh of exhalation as I waited in silence
Now assured in the fear that none other would come near.

I breathed out in surrender to my self designed fate
That had caused me to forget the simple joys of the mundane.

In the quiet return of inhaled breath a gentle knocking
Echoed within the walls I had built and upon my door.

I stood quite still so startled was I that one would come so near
I stood quite still excited by the sound that spoke of one so near.

Who’s there?…. I called out barely able to breathe barely able to move
Who’s there?… I called once again as I trembled at the thought of another so near.

The door I had so skillfully hid myself behind gently opened by unseen hand
Light flooded in and the fragrant air of a world I had left behind filled me.

My eyes now opened from the long slumber of one who found sanctuary in retreat
As the spell of willing recluse and Hermit’s hand now loosened their hold.

The insistent heartbeat of a human life and all the joys and pleasures it held
Knocked upon those doors that kept me hidden and in response to hope-filled
Query of “Who’s There” I breathe out in exhalation…

I Am! The one who is content, secure and at peace in the world!

What beautifully crafted spaces have you built to keep you at arms length from the world? And, how has it affected your Magick? Next week’s post will continue these thoughts.

“Leaving the Hermit Behind”