Heart Reading … Day 18

Karen Willard Ribeiro
2 min readAug 2, 2021

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Thank the good creator for forests!

This is both a declaration and an invocation.

As a sensitive person who is 2.5 weeks into this daily practice of heart reading, I started this week exhausted from a busy weekend and a bit disconnected from my heart. It may not have been wise to attempt a heart reading so early on a Monday but I felt it was in order. I took the dogs out, did a bit of work, and then took a nap.

There has been a crew of people nearby using very loud machinery all day — to the point where my nerves were grating on edge (and they started up again just now). I took my bicycle to a forest and found the most wonderful trail to ride on. Sitting there, away from the cacophony of human doing — where only the occasional rise of beetle stridulation could be heard — I was able to regain the peace imbued by the ancient pines.

Unfortunately I could not stay in that spot all day.

Despite the improperly formatted line spacing here, I offer Emily’s poem that speaks to my heart today:

The Soul has Bandaged moments —

When too appalled to stir —

She feels some ghastly Fright come up

And stop to look at her —

Salute her — with long fingers —

Caress her freezing hair —

Sip, Goblin, from the very lips

The Lover — hovered — o’er —

Unworthy, that a thought so mean

Accost a Theme — so — fair —

The soul has moments of Escape —

When bursting all the doors —

She dances like a Bomb, abroad,

And swings upon the Hours. …

The Soul’s retaken moments —

When, Felon, led along,

With shackles on the plumed feet,

And staples, in the Song,

The Horror welcomes her, again,

These, are not brayed of Tongue —

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Karen Willard Ribeiro
Karen Willard Ribeiro

Written by Karen Willard Ribeiro

Beyond Karen: emerging from the depths of an epic epithet is available at innerfortune.com and at your favorite independent bookseller. Thanks for reading.

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