Male and Female

Once upon a time there was a boy and a girl who lived in an underground village. It was dark where they were. It was a cave. They heard stories of the outside, and wanted to go and explore. The people in this village had a custom that a male and a female would be intended for each other, and when they had reached 12 years old, both of them would work together to reach the surface. They were given no more training than this.

I see a lad digging through the surface, his muscles strengthening as he keeps simply going in one direction. He has a little candle to see by. Behind him is a lady who takes the dirt he digs through, and shores up the tunnel they make together. She stores the dirt, she strengthens the wall, she carries the light, she does all that she can to assist him.

They breach into the light, the man first, then the woman. They make a home together in the sunland. The man goes and hunts and makes advances in the world. The woman makes the home, and nurtures and helps.

They go back into the tunnel and return to the village when they have a child.

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The Column

Deep and dark in the cave time carved
A sprinkling sound skipped off cold stone walls
A spire that hangs from the high ceiling calls
Down to the answering stalagmite love-starved

Wishing quietly for gravity’s haste
To break his prison bars which anchor hold
The dripping rock that has grown in the cold
Weathered only by water’s mineral taste

Iteratively aching to loose each drop
Truncating his comfort for the love for which he longs
Translating his care into stories, deeds, and songs
Interpreting echoes growing nearer every stop

Night how cruel to cast sun-hiding shade
Recalcitrant to tell the story of the lover’s act
Return my Love who from me love attract
Never-ending lest I dwindle without your aid

Dampness felt as calcium splats the tip.
An answer echoes close in the stalactite’s ear.
Again! Could it be the cherished one is near
Devoted to respond to his steady drip?

Lips moistened by the fall and growth of love
Come now to lightly touching until at last
Connection! As the two rocks now stand fast
Lodged as one: a bridge from below and from above

Enter now, O climber in the cave
Transfixed by this monument to faithfulness
Telling the power of earth’s fruitful thankfulness
Enmeshed with Heaven by all the gifts He gave.