Cloud Robe
There is a carnival atmosphere – Indoors, outdoors,
crowds moving and cars being parked.
Horses and ponies with young riders criss-cross the lot.
I am traveling with a group, who all seem to be following my lead.
As we run into friends there are happy reunions and shared flurries of news.
As we approach a small cabin, everyone stops and someone stands next to me,
telling me ‘This is the Place.’
I can see that there are dim lamps on inside, casting a yellow light.
I can hear a TV as well.
There may be people, but what I am about to do will not harm them.
The person beside me is holding a Cloud Making Cloak.
It is a very fine, floor length object.
At the hem the silver chains are thick, like rope,
and they gradually are thinner and finer as they proceed from floor,
to knees, to hips, to neck and sleeves, which are thin as string.
It is a robe of necklaces.
As I put my arms into the sleeves,
I feel a chill down my spine and take a deep breath.
Someone says “Don’t worry – this will be easy for you. Just use your breath.”
And so I begin. I lift my left hand and start in the basement.
I imagine all the air there moving with my breath and I sweep it with my hands,
from the ramp cellar door, up the basement stairs and into the kitchen.
People sit there, at the table.
I see the results in my mind before I see them through the windows.
Then, the wisps of smoke become obvious to everyone,
and as the wisps find each other and migrate to form clouds,
there are quiet gasps and murmurs from the people behind me.
Soon the small house is filled with clouds.
Not smoke, but white, translucent clouds
(this being some sort of Cleansing.)
When the house is full, someone will get up and open a window.
Let the clouds full of bad things air out.
The light shifts from yellow to gold. The people glow.
The release of fear is visible.
Only then do I remove the Cloud Robe.