Patricia – Goddess -scholar, women’s spirituality pioneer, poet and author – took a chance on me & my dissertation (which she called “groundbreaking”). She mentored me into publishing for the first time (and 2nd time & 3rd time). She gave me the coveted role of straw-boy at her wedding, invited me to share her home and holidays and loved my husband and dog.
Patricia shared my mission to overthrow the Patriarchy and bring credibility to the first-person research voice. She knew that ritual and writing are the most powerful forms of magic. I am heartbroken. I will carry on the work of Goddess scholar in her honor. Brigit grant her safe passage. Brigit comfort Michael. Brigit help us all. So mote it be.
Dirge without Music
by Edna St. Vincent Millay
I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:
Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned
With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.
Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.
Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.
A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,
A formula, a phrase remains, — but the best is lost.
The answers quick & keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,
They are gone. They have gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled
Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve.
More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.
Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.
