When the Goddesses Depart

"All the goddesses have upped and left, as they are wont to do. They fought a bit, showed a few dead bodies, got us to note the weaponry - the heads they'd severed,  the wild rides they could summon - then dived into inescapable imaginations, depths they could escape only in a year.   Beyond the sweltering of allegories and the heavy lifting of metaphors, in the dismal gloom of departure, will lay the memory of sweat  - for the celestial after-smell is more dour than Dior.    The goddesses herald hope, but with intimations of winter, with the message that battles could be won,      but not seasons, and in the inevitability of a divine victory lies the onus of legacy left in our care. Embedded in the lights which show the way in the dark dawn lies the start of the real war - the daily common life.   But as long as we know the goddesses as breath, there's both hope and despair - we will trudge home with self-injuries, but we will survive."   As autumn begins, and winter peeps into the world, the goddesses begin to come to earth. One after another - Durga, Laxmi, Saraswati. The warmth and energy of their stories prepares us to withstand the rigors of a figurative and metaphorical winter. But in the aplomb, noise and glitter, we often forget that their battles are metaphysical messages and their victories are vision statements.   They are celebrations but also reminders. And they are recurrent because man tends to remember the minutiae and forgets the essence.   The richness of allegories is our cultural repast, and a yearly reminder that time could pass, but any particular moment is always the right time for new beginnings.   If you liked this poem, consider listening to these other poems which talk of the divinity in various forms - <ul><li><a href='https://open.spotify.com/episode/1p809CJ1EFG1b3hy0BHPRr?si=ytRkLHTrSGO01hzI0Fqy6Q&utm_source=whatsapp'>Making Love in a Cathedral on a Stormy Day</a></li> <li><a href='https://open.spotify.com/episode/1onrHGIQN1OXvbSdhZo2ob?si=lOsmd0wpRba4Iw7ZDzQS6g&utm_source=what