A Prayer to the Black Madonna

DARK MOTHER OF MY SOUL
Come to me as you have never left me.
From you I am, in you I am;
Through you I see the husbandman.

With the eyes of forgotten antiquity,
In pools of another place you saw me;
You touched me,
You raised me a little higher than the angels.

Mysteries melt away in your arms,
And life begins with your cup.
Let me drink from your knowledge so that I may know myself.
Mother, virgin, whore, font of wisdom
Who is clarity in obscurity.

In your darkness we begin to see light.
Never ending Mother, unknowable and yet known to all.
Sister of the rising sea foam,
Star of the Sea,
Queen of Heaven,
Reign quietly as I remember who I am.

Reign quietly, my Lady, heart of my being.
Reign quietly, I pray.

(Written for the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, 2009
by The Rev. Deacon Donald Donato)