O phoenix that glows on the high branch

You are the spark that calls us into the depths

And to travel there we need a chariot

To take us through the breaking waves

So many questions rise and fall within me

Such as why does the heart have to break

Or why does it choose to wander exiled

And banished from the garden?

And not only once but many times?

Perhaps it is only in this coming and going

That all that clutters up the entrance

Is dismantled and washed away

The path into the forest then appears

I enter and the ground cracks underfoot

It cracks like fire and the wind is moving

The wind is twisting around a zest of leaves

And the chariot stands ready on its wheels

It is ready to race where there is no fear

No fear of dark or haunting shadows

To sit in the chariot as it creaks and sways

Is to be in the temple where all is smelt

Its burnt wood smells of the story of war

And as I stand in the cradle of salvaged wood

I imagine a pair of gleaming white horses

Me an armoured warrior charging into battle

Life can ask us to cross impossible seas

The chariot blazes like a fresh imagination

It crosses over where chasing monsters drown

Like the journey of the prophet with his rod

Its promise carries me over on dry land

To find these depths is to enter a kingdom

Where everything unheard is listened

And all that separates comes together

Like the vision of Blake riding towards the sun

Where do you plan to go now O chariot?

When I close my eyes around these miracles

I feel you sweetly rumbling over the earth

And I dream of the places you will take me

Solstice poem... the inspiration behind this piece is far-reaching and was birthed by a chariot (deeply symbolic objects historically and archetypally) that was made by a friend from salvaged wood at Bonnevaux in France. It's well worth looking up the multi-layered symbolism!

Chariot made by Nelly Light at Bonnevaux 

'Vision of the Flaming Chariot' by Giotto

'A Sunshine Holiday' by William Blake

Krishna and Arjuna, The Bhagavad Gita

A vase discovered in southeastern Iran dating back to 2000 BC–warrior riding a chariot pulled by a horse