<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Going down and coming back</div><p class="ydpc26d6ba2MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">You don’t have to be Persephone </div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> or even think of yourself as Persephone</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> or as Dante, or Brendan Smyth, or Andres Brevik</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> or countless others I could name,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> to know there are cavernous needs</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> within our souls that easily lead us down,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> knowingly or unknowingly,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> down into that underworld,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> dark, treacherous paths </div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> within us all.</div><p class="ydpc26d6ba2MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">And we do know, don’t we,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> how nearly impossible,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> once we find ourselves there,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> to make it back in tact?</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> <i class="">Nearly</i>, I say—</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> for with open eyes,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> an honest, courageous heart,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> a laser-like focus on all,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> unflagging effort</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> and not a small </div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> portion of luck,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> it can, sometimes,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> be done.</div><p class="ydpc26d6ba2MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">This we know and if we look, </div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> we see how some among us choose to go,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> others go, it seems, without such choosing,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> as if they were forced or sent somehow,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> still others flee in fear, thinking to escape the journey altogether</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> and then there are those few who seem to have no need at all to go,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> perhaps from having traveled there before—who knows?</div><p class="ydpc26d6ba2MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">I say the going down and the making it back brings</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> a knowledge that cannot be erased,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> possibilities that cannot be denied,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> openings that cannot be closed,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> a growing wholeness, to be found nowhere else, that cannot be diminished—</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> a richness of experience that cannot be quantified,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> offering itself as a source—over and again, over and again—</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""> yielding, at each return, new discoveries.</div><p class="ydpc26d6ba2MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p><div class=""> - <span style="font-style: normal;" class="">Bill Denham </span></div></div></body></html>