Flora's Dial for Today, May 20th

This is dedicated to my friend Derrick - truly faithful in adversity
www.derrickjensen.org

Flora's Dial - May 20
Wall Flower - Faithful in Adversity

When all around grows drear and dark,
When Reason half witholds her ray,
And Hope sheds but a dying spark,
Which more misleads my lonely way,
In that deep midnight of the mind,
And that internal strife of heart,
When, dreading to be deemed too kind,
The weak despair, the cold depart;
When fortunes change, and Love flees far,
And Hatred's shafts fly thick and fast,
Thou art the solitary star
That will not set until the last.

~ Byron

A few of the phrases in here are especially poignant in regards to my friend and his writings. As I see it much of this poem can be applied to the scathing apathy that strives to keep us from seeing and feeling the desecration of the natural world, mother of all life. It makes absolutely no sense to rape and destroy that which sustains us.

It also makes me wonder who among us shall be a solitary star not setting until the last. Who will spend their days preparing the armor and weapons with which to war against adversity, which surely will appear to be cold and unfeeling to those who do not prepare for such themselves. But to be a solitary star means to lift the sacred above the profane, honoring the Goddess our Mother.

And so I say this - War on the outside, Sacrifice within.