Feeding the Warrior's Soul

[Manuel Tavares]

Feeding the Warrior's Soul

By Catherine Viel

Posted April 14, 2022

https://rayviolet.blogspot.com/2022/04/feeding-warriors-soul.html?v...

Up to its native stars

My soul ascended!

There from the flowing bowl

Deep drinks the warrior’s soul…

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Skeleton in Armor

Getting ready to take a family member to a routine appointment, my attention is drawn to glittering rings and jangly bracelets in my dusty jewelry box, and necklaces dangling from wall hooks.

I haven’t spent much time perusing my collection of modest adornments over the last few years. Life has been too fraught to bother with such things; mask-wearing feels so dispiriting, why accessorize? However, in much of California we’re currently allowed to go maskless, and my mood has lifted correspondingly.

One part of me feels like I’ve no business primping. The world is at war! I need to do something to help end this dragged-out final battle, as many people see it. Spiffing up an outfit with matching earrings hardly qualifies as a winning strategy.

But I put on the rings, bracelets, and earrings anyway, and a gold cat-and-heart pendant necklace. I suspect that, quirky as it sounds, this is my battle armor. I’m telling those who would crush my spirit: You can’t make me too depressed to put on my sparkly baubles. Not anymore....>>>