In Honor of All Women

In Honor of All Women

An Eternal Prayer

By Charles E.J. Moulton 

***

Dedicated to the Spirit of Mary Magdalene.

To the grace and dignity of all women everywhere. 

To my dear wife Tanja and my dear daughter Mara. To my maternal grandmother Anna Julia Sofia Kronzell (1900 - 1996), silent movie pianist. To my mother Gun Margareta Kronzell (1930 - 2011), opera singer. To my paternal grandmother Nellie Brennan Eyre (1889 - 1958), descendant of the Baron Eyres of Eyre Court. To my ancestor Betsy Ross, who sewed the first flag for George Washington. To Mary Jane Kelly (1863 - 1888), an Irish girl who left Wales for Paris and Whitechapel and died too early. To Marie Antoinette (1755 - 1793), who endured intrigues and lies from a hard court as a young girl from a relaxed Schönbrunn and who never bought that necklace and never ever spoke Rousseau's words and was an excellent foreign advisor to the king, a wonderful friend to Axel von Fersen and who even excused herself to her executioner. To Princess Diana, Empress Sissy and Evita Peron. 

To all women, who are the light of eternity.

***

"For One Day"

***

If we only could

Be running up that hill

Like Kate Bush

Who wanted

To make 

A deal with God. 

Switch places 

With the other gender

For one day.

A man be a woman 

And a woman be a man 

For one single day. 

It would be 

The freakiest

And most wonderful 

Friday

In existence

And would turn 

Friday the 13th 

Into a lucky day. 

If we only could 

See making love

As a stairway to heaven 

That would make 

Jimmy Page proud. 

We would see that 

We are different 

In how we speak 

Act

And look. 

Some of us 

Wear make up. 

Some of us are frilly. 

Menopausal. 

Hormonal. 

Angry. 

Act tough. 

But we are acting 

Our parts

And we are the puzzle 

The length and strength 

With the open portal. 

We fall in love 

To make love. 

Our bodies 

Are the real sculptures 

Behind all the poems

The paintings 

The romantic comedies 

And the sculptures. 

So it is with a divine heart 

That I ask

What truly is a sin?

Laughing at others

And foulmouthing them

Or kissing their lips 

And making love to them? 

Calling someone silly

For being frilly and beautiful 

Or bowing down

Tolerant

Respectful 

Humble 

Willing to learn

Modest 

Like a knight before a queen

And calling them goddesses? 

It was said that Jesus 

Wanted us all to be priests. 

And Paul expected 

Bishops to marry

In order to understand 

The congregation. 

In the Song of Solomon 

The bride is hailed as

The most eternal of beauties

And it was Mary Magdalene

Who spread the word. 

Women are mothers. 

Daughters. 

Caretakers. 

And the infinite kiss 

Is the stairway to heaven. 

So again we ask

What truly is a sin?

Starting a war

Or making love. 

Praising the natural beauty 

Like a garden

Or a deer

Or a tiger

Or a bare beautiful body. 

If you enjoy a nude sculpture 

By Michelangelo 

Without sniggering

Why can't you do so

With a real life sculpture 

Of a real person? 

If you respect 

The puzzle of humanity 

With dignity and grace 

You will be that chivalrous knight

Who is running up that hill 

Up the stairway to heaven.