Choose the one, whose soul calls to yours clearly,
Who sees you; who is brave enough to be afraid.
Accept his hand and guide him gently to your heart’s blood,
Where he can feel your warmth upon him and rest there,
And burn his heavy load in your fires.
Look into his eyes; look deep within and see what lies dormant or awake or shy or expectant there.
Look into his eyes and see there his fathers and grandfathers and all the wars and madness their spirits fought in some distant land, some distant time.
Look upon their pains and struggles and torments and guilt without judgment.
And let it all go.
Feel into his ancestral burden
And know that what he seeks is safe refuge in you.
Let him melt in your steady gaze.
Know that you need not mirror that rage;
Because you have a womb, a sweet, deep gateway to wash and renew old wounds.
If you want to change the world, love a man ~ really love him.
Sit before him in the full majesty of your woman;
In the breath of your vulnerability.
In the play of your child innocence.
In the depths of your death.
Flowering invitation, softly yielding, allowing his power as a man to step forward towards you.
Swim in the Earth’s womb, in silent knowing, together.
And when he retreats–because he will flee in fear to his cave–
Gather your grandmothers around you.
Envelope in their wisdoms.
Hear their gentle shusshhhed whispers to calm your frightened girls’ heart,
Urging you to be still and wait patiently for his return.
Sit and sing by his door, a song of remembrance, that he may be soothed, once more.
If you want to change the world, love a man ~ really love him
Do not coax out his little boy
With guiles and wiles and seduction and trickery
Only to lure him to a web of destruction,
To a place of chaos and hatred
More terrible than any war fought by his brothers.
This is not feminine; this is revenge.
This is the poison of the twisted lies
Of the abuse of the ages, the rape of our world.
This gives no power to woman; it reduces her as she cuts off his balls.
It kills us all.
And whether his mother held him or not,
Show him the true mother now.
Hold him and guide him in your grace and your depth;
That grace smoldering in the center of the Earth’s core.
Do not punish him for his wounds that you think don’t meet your needs or criteria.
Cry for him sweet rivers.
Bleed it all back home.
If you want to change the world, love a man ~ really love him.
Love him enough to be naked and free.
Love him enough to open your body and soul to the cycle of birth and of death.
And thank him for the opportunity.
As you dance together through the raging winds and silent woods,
Be brave enough to be fragile and let him drink in the soft, heady petals of your being.
Let him know he can hold you, and stand up and protect you.
Fall back into his arms and trust him to catch you.
Even if you’ve been dropped a thousand times before.
Teach him how to surrender by surrendering yourself.
Merge into the sweet nothing of this worlds’ heart.
If you want to change the world, love a man ~ really love him.
Encourage him, feed him, allow him, hear him, hold him, heal him.
And you, in turn, will be nourished and supported and protected
By strong arms and clear thoughts and focused arrows.
He can, if you let him, be all that you dream.
If you want to love a man, love yourself, love your father
Love your brother, your son, your ex-partner; from the first boy you kissed,
To the last one you wept over.
Give thanks for the gifts of your unraveling to this meeting
Of the one who stands before you now.
And find in him the seed to all that’s new and solar
A seed that you can feed to help direct the planting
To grow a new world, together
~ Lisa Citore