and i sing of dionysus — o! ivy-crowned god with a smile as dark as the secrets he keeps. i sing and i dance, a flurry of humanity let loose until i am joy unbound! the bindings cannot hold me just as they could not hold you! sweet-smelling god, i ask you to bless me as you bless the vines of the wood. may i grow unfettered, reaching up, up, up! may my voice be loud! may my body shift and change! and may this change be a blessing unto you! oh, dark-curled god, flushed with wine and eternal youth — may i bloom, bloom, and bloom! give me the will to never back away from the awe-struck joy that it is to be alive — may i never shrink but only grow as you grew from impossibility. may i find favor in your heart & may your hands turn my meekness into wild opportunity.
