“In the center is a Sanctuary

and I am calling you to come inside,”

the Beautiful One said in a voice soft as thought.

Outside, pale prophets spoke the Words of Night,

contagious fear spreading from their cold lips.

“Pay it no heed,” says She.

“In the Sanctuary, an Incandescent Fire resides.

The helpless heart is strong.”

Her words touch so close

to my penetrated heart that I am afraid to hope.

And yet I do hope.

“Enter into Sanctuary, enter into Peace,” She says.

“Pain and fear cannot exist within;

they are Other.

Come now, you are not abandoned.”

Fear falls away into pools of Light, white as lightning.

“Look,” says She, “I have woven for you a Chrysalis.”

“I know,”  I say, “of Incandescent Fire,

and Sanctuary is the entering within.”

The Beautiful One smiles,

“Yes.”