Memento Oriri (WC)

 

(Wendy Cabell, March 5, 2021, feast day of the (above) Nurturer Icon of the Mother of God. Poem spurred by Ruth Jaffre's Quarantine Write-in (Hugo House, Seattle) prompt to reflect on Octovia Butler's qoute, "All that you touch, you Change. All that you Change, Changes you. The only thing lasting is Change". Also inspired by Kayleen Asbo of Mythica's current symposium (Mary Magdalene and Holy Week: Ideas to Lead Us From Grief to Joy), as well as current engagement in Abbey of the Arts' Lent Journey with the Desert Mothers and Fathers.)

Memento Oriri*

 

         

Now I am revealing new things to you,

things hidden and unknown to you,

created just now, this very moment. 

--Isaiah 48:6 

Flow, slow go. As sowers know. 

Plants, creatures, rivers, 

no two same moments know.

See yon butterfly circle,  

each round's a new name. 

Births colors sublime, through

soft slide of shade.

Flow, slow go. As sowers know.

Plants, creatures and rivers

no two same moments know.

* As a partner thought to the Latin memento mori (remember you must die), memento oriri remembers rebirth.

Oriri is the present active infinitive of Latin orior, which stems from the Proto-Indo-European (H)r̥-nw-‎; "to flow, move, run" (see also Middle Irish rian,  "river, way"; and others). As a verb it becomes: I rise, get up; I appear, become visible; I am born, come to exist, originate (compiled from Word Sense). 

*From prompt: Freewrite as inspired by Octovia Butler's quote, "All that you touch, you Change. All that you Change, Changes you. The only thing lasting is Change"; from Ruth Jaffre's Quarantine Write-in (Hugo House, Seattle). Also inspired by Kayleen Asbo of Mythica's current symposium (Mary Magdalene and Holy Week: Ideas to Lead Us From Grief to Joy), as well as current engagement in Abbey of the Arts' Lent Journey with the Desert Mothers and Fathers.