ON AUDRE LORDE by Tadiya Dasi

”My silences had not protected me. Your silences will not protect you....

...What are the words you do not yet have? What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence?” Audre Lorde

I first came across Audre Lorde and her work in my Gender studies classes at the university. The lecturer shared some of her work with us and gave us the above quote from her. That quote hit me right in the gut and I knew I needed to know more about her and her work.

Audre Lorde

Lorde was a poet, a human rights activist, a teacher and a feminist. She battled breast cancer and unfortunately lost her battle in 1992. From this battle came her award winning book called: The Cancer Journals. There's also a documentary about her: A Litany for Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde.

My favorite poem from Lorde is called A Litany for Survival and I am happy to share it with the readers of this blog. To me, this poem speaks of the fear that is part of the human experience in this material world. ”We were never meant to survive” here on this earth anyway. As spiritual beings, we often feel like we are ”living on the shoreline” here on earth: not quite at home here.

This poem encapsulates the attitude of courage to me. We must often “die to live”. We must die to our fear and boldly live our (spiritual) truth.

I think it’s important to remember that we all have stories and poems, and words, and a need for language within us. No matter how big or small, important or insignificant we feel we are, we should speak our truth and in doing so, share who we are with others.

Photography by Alan Shapiro

A LITANY FOR SURVIVAL

by Audre Lorde

For those of us who live at the shoreline

standing upon the constant edges of decision

crucial and alone

for those of us who cannot indulge

the passing dreams of choice

who love in doorways coming and going

in the hours between dawns

looking inward and outward

at once before and after

seeking a now that can breed

futures

like bread in our children's mouths

so their dreams will not reflect

the death of ours:

For those of us

Photography by Katja Anderson

who were imprinted with fear

like a faint line in the center of our foreheads

learning to be afraid with our mother's milk

for by this weapon

this illusion of some safety to be found

the heavy-footed hoped to silence us

For all of us

this instant and this triumph

We were never meant to survive.

And when the sun rises we are afraid

it might not remain

when the sun sets we are afraid

it might not rise in the morning

when our stomachs are full we are afraid

of indigestion

when our stomachs are empty we are afraid

we may never eat again

when we are loved we are afraid

love will vanish

when we are alone we are afraid

love will never return

and when we speak we are afraid

our words will not be heard

nor welcomed

but when we are silent

we are still afraid

So it is better to speak

remembering

we were never meant to survive

Tadiya dasi is a bhakti yogini who has always loved to write and read. Mostly she has read about religions, both as a student of Religious studies in university as well as a student of the Divine studying the Bhakti-scriptures such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Bhagavata Purana. She writes mostly for her own pleasure, for self-reflection and creativity. Recently, she has begun to give lectures on bhakti yoga. Her favorite place to practice bhakti yoga is in one of her teacher's ashrams, surrounded by beautiful nature and lots of cows. She, though, lives mostly in Helsinki, the capital city of Finland. Her inspiration to write and to share bhakti comes from her teacher Swami Tripurari. You can email Tadiya at tadiyadasi@yahoo.com

~If you are interested in seeing your poetry appear in this blog, or submitting a poem by a woman that has inspired you, please click here for submission guidelines. I greatly look forward to hearing from you!~