Wealie's World » passion

Witness to the storm

Ruth Weal — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 01:51:50 +0000

I love storms – I was born during a great thunder and lightning storm and they’ve always fascinated me since I was a young child. There is something so magnificent in the transitory nature and the absolute power of the sky that they exude. Even after they have ended, they leave and indelible mark on the mind and emotions of those who have experienced them, a sense of wonder and reverence of mother nature’s fury.

They take over all your senses, the lightning and the brooding clouds burning into your retinas, the thunder pounding through your ears and the scent of ozone sizzling through your nostrils. The feeling of anticipation that builds within me matches the building of power within the storm.

Here’s a picture of storm clouds over Glastonbury Tor, which is a black and white treatment of the picture Pregnant with power from my Up on the Tor flickr set that I took back in June 2007. It was a strange day, I hadn’t planned to visit Glastonbury and ended up going on a whim as I was in the area. The weather looked like it was going to downpour at any moment, but for the whole time that my Dad and I were up on the Tor the weather held and when we went down into Glastonbury and visited the chalice well gardens the clouds parted and the sun came out. As you can see from the picture though and the rest of the flickr set, it was definitely pouring down elsewhere on the Somerset Levels!

Pregnant with Power - Copyright R.Weal 2007

And finally you’ll find a personal favourite of the poems that I’ve written over the years – “Witness to the Storm”. Witness to the Storm was written during a spectacular storm back in June 2005. It was a beautiful and captivating storm with great power and lots of thunder, lightning and heavy downpours of fat rain.

I was stood outside in my garden, dripping wet with the pouring rain and loving it, experiencing the storm with the poem bursting forth inside my head with the speed and power of each thunder clap and lightning bolt. With every new line I’d run inside the back door dripping wet and quickly write it down as it came to me, eager to get back outside so that I could continue to commune with the storm and discover the next line desperate to be born.

What I ended up with was a very visceral and honest poem that never fails to bring back not just the memory, but the sense and feeling of the storm that day and the swell of emotions that it brought forth in me. I hope you enjoy the poem and that in some small way it brings alive a little bit of the storm again to live on in you.

Embrace the storm in you and you will ever be vibrant.

Wealie x

WITNESS TO THE STORM

Today I bore witness to the storm
As others ran to shelter, I stepped out and watched it take form
Fat droplets of rain like a tentative caress
As lovers lips to lips might press
Each strike of lightening coruscating through my veins
Each clap of thunder danced across my emotional plane

The scent of the earth is spiced with heat
I sensed the social constraint within me deplete
A daughter of earth I stepped out from the fold
Waiting on Thor, for my vision to behold
My mood and the storm forever entwined in pace
The wisdom of ages writ across my face.

At one with the earth and sky
For a singular moment my soul could fly
I tasted of Mother Nature’s flesh
Understanding dawning of my one true quest
A conduit of power my body became
Perfectly contained, in this, my earthbound frame.

Dancing beneath the balming rain
Washing away my every pain
Absolved of all my sin
Soaked through beyond mere skin
Arms raised to heaven in supplication
Power mirrored within me in affirmation

Hunger for power, desire for knowledge
I unshackled the armour which society polished
Set free by nature and her storm divine
Even now it’s over, a part of her is ever mine
Mind and soul, body and storm enmeshed
I am blessed, I am blessed, I am blessed.

Ruth Weal
28 June 2005 7.29 pm

Copyright R.Weal 2005

Here is a rose, or two, one for me and one for you x

Ruth Weal — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 22:59:36 +0000

Heaven Scent - Copyright R.Weal 2007

I’ve always loved roses since I was a little girl and my Nan had a wonderful set of rose bushes outside the front of her house that she was always proud of. Nan’s pride is not surprising as her roses were much admired! She would always let me pick one to take home with me because I loved the scents.

This yellow tea rose is called “Heaven Scent” and I photographed it at the 2007 Bath & West Show which is an annual agricultural show that has become a bit of a tradition to visit with my Dad and when she’s free my sister Shelley! The show always has lots of lovely plants, a beautiful flower tent, oodles of lovely fresh food, loads of animals, competitions and lots of interesting country and craft stalls.

It’s always held at the end of May/beginning of June and there is always at least one stall with the finest Cotswold Strawberries, which are the best in the world and alone are worth the entry fee!!

I had actually bought the same variety of this rose plant for my Nan and helped to plant it in her garden the year before, along with a red rose similar to my second rose picture “Passion” below. These pictures were also one of the first times I took out the Pentax K10D digital SLR camera and started taking my photography seriously.

So, the pictures of “Heaven Scent” and “Passion” therefore evoke happy memories of exploring my skills in photography, spending time with my Dad and sister Shelley and of the fond times gardening with the my beloved grandmother, who I had sadly lost the year previously.

Passion - Copyright R.Weal 2007

Red roses were always my Nan’s favourite and “Passion” had a deep heady scent to it that brought to mind the conversations my Nan and I often had about roses and red ones in particular.

Nan said red roses always reminded her of the ones she had carried in her wedding bouquet. That they were a beautiful symbol of her enduring love that she shared with my Granddad. Nan was admittedly a bit of a romantic, but when you spend over 60 yrs with the same person in your life and still feel in love with them to the end I think you’re entitled to be a romantic!

I decided to buy the rose bush “Passion” that was the subject of this picture and I planted it in my own garden in her memory.

My “Passion” bush is still there today, though sadly a bit overshadowed by a climbing plant that has decided to take over my back yard! Every time I see any rose I always smile at the memories it evokes and the scent transports me back to times when my life seemed simpler and one the most truly inspirational and selflessly loving people graced my life.

Shortly after uploading the picture I added a poem in the flickr description for the picture “Passion”. I was inspired to write the poem after attending Paco Peña’s - A Compás Flamenco show at the Salisbury City Hall as part of the Salisbury International Arts Festival . A Compás was a veritable feast of music, dance, colour and spell binding rhythms that kept me so completely enthralled that it seemed like it had hardly begun before it had ended!

I remember clearly the poem bursting forth in my mind to be written the moment the show was over. The title had exploded into my consciousness as I had watched the commanding performances of the lead male Flamenco dancer and I knew if I didn’t capture the energy and spirit of the moment in the poem I’d always regret it. Unfortunately it was one of the rare occasions when I didn’t have a pen and paper in my handbag. Luckily my good friend Deborah came to the rescue and was quickly on hand ensuring that the poem lived and the energy and passion of the moment was not lost. Hopefully if you read the poem out loud to yourselves you’ll hear the rhythm of the flamenco that drove the words from men that heady evening.

As Flamenco is such a passionate art form, it seemed only right that it should have a passionate picture to compliment it and so another melding of my art forms was born. At the bottom of the post there’s a video clip of Paco Peña and his team performing the A Compás show, maybe you’ll get swept up in the passion just like I did!

May your passions warm you all your days and complacency never darken your way.

Wealie x

IF I MARRY, LET HIM BE A FLAMENCO DANCER

“If I marry”
she said
“Let him be a flamenco dancer
With lithe feet
And graceful passion
I will fall into his embrace
In the gypsy fashion”

“If I marry”
She said
“Let him be a flamenco dancer
For he stole my breath
With the fire in his feet
And my heart’s true rhythm
Is forever linked to a flamenco beat”

“If I marry”
She said
“Let him be a flamenco dancer
For he tore from me my passion in the blink of an eye
And gave me elation on an exhaled sigh
For I gave him my heart, my essence, my soul
And without his flamenco
I will never be whole

“If I marry”
She softly sighed
“Please, let him be a flamenco dancer”

The first two verses were written after watching the breathtakingly beautiful Paco Peña’s A Compás Flamenco show from the Salisbury International Arts Festival on 01 June 2007.

What I Want

Ruth Weal — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 19:58:00 +0000

This poem was written at a time when I realised I couldn’t have the man that I was in love with, but also that I wasn’t sure that I’d ever meet someone who would be able to accept me for who I was. I really like this poem, it’s a strong recognition of what I wanted in a partner and also the begins of acceptance and letting go of the man I couldn’t keep. It remains a favourite with me as in essence it still represents the deeper passions that drive me.

WHAT I WANT

What I want I cannot have
What I need I do not think exists
What I crave I’m not sure I can keep
What I lost I cannot continue for to weep

I want a man, not a boy
Who’ll worship all that is womanly and feminine in me
I want a god, not a toy
Who will call forth undying devotion and won’t be coy

I want an equal, who’ll walk beside me through this life
Who understands I care not for the trappings of marriage, of being a wife
I want a partner who knows I cannot be caged
Someone who will run besides me and be my eternal rock, my wise sage

I want a lover who will let me pin him to the wall
And I want his eyes to shine with feral anticipation not fear at all
Even as he contemplates holding me bound and stripping me down
A man who will treat me like the priceless jewel in the crown

I want the battle of wills that ends in smiles
I want the debates and the frenzy that makes me feel so alive
I want strong, enraptured flesh made to match mine
I want the joining of sweet ecstasy divine

I want a man who when I get difficult won’t run and hide
A man with courage, who when I’m right will set aside his pride
I want that individual, the only one that truly fits
I want someone whose name will be forever on my lips

I want a companion who can see through my eyes
Who won’t always understand me, but he’ll always try
I want tenacity matched only by sensitivity
I want steel overlaid with delicate vulnerability

I want a man desperate from my well to sip
I want perfection as we meet hip to hip
I want love that will hold me through anything life throws at me
I want the chance to see if I can be what I know I could be

I want a mate who understands I cannot be tamed
I want a lover who with a single touch has me inflamed
I want consuming passion that matches mine
I want what I truly cannot fully define

I want a man who wants as much as me
I want a lover who craves what only I can free
I want a mate who shares his thoughts and life with me
I want a lover who wants to be the other half of me