Inanna Advises Her Initiate by Psyche North Torok

Painting by Arna Baartz

One day, you will make the journey
into the belly of should,
into the cauldron of not good enough,

into the gut of unworthy.
Neither gods nor darkness will show mercy.
Shadows will carve your life.

Desire will drop away, begging survival.
Try any means to avoid it;
still you will be called to your descent,

your muscles spent, leaden,
your thoughts embalmed in silence.
Take with you what you may;

you will lose it all.
But leave one jewel here –
the best you have – to pull you home.

Bury it on some wild hilltop.
Bury it by your oldest cedar.
Bury it in the roots of your heart:

One gem to draw you back to
yourself, potent as a secret,
unwavering as the underworld.

 

Poem featured in Inanna's Ascent.

A graduate of Ohio State University, Psyche North Torok is a writer and lover of words, language, and Nature. Her poems have appeared in Common Ground Review, Mountain Astrologer, and various collections including the Grayson Books anthology, Forgotten Women. She lives and works in Columbus, Ohio.