Missing Sedona

acrylic on canvas – 24″ X 24″ and 12″ X 12″
© 2007 Sandra Ware

The messengers arrived on dark wings
Ushered by a prayer
Well into my journey
I watched them descending to the red rocks
Unaware of the threshold passed
Of the wound set, already bleeding

Beyond the veil of giddy spirituality
Is the reality of Sedona
The map in my head
The compass pointing West
Recasting the past
Annihilating the future

I know where I must be
But my steps are faltering
Is this real? My demand
Is not such suffering foolish?
Your sorrow is your strength – their fierce answer
As beautiful in its way as the talons holding my heart

 © 2007 Sandra Ware

Missing Sedona is a very personal painting – my first after the decision to return to the visual arts. Sedona had changed me. Had hold of me. And the Sedona ravens – and my special relationship with them – were emblematic. The painting was a test of my talent, of my commitment, of my vision. It was also a labor of love.

My convent school upbringing in New Orleans doubtlessly influenced the Sacret Heart imagery. The thorny plant that entwines the heart is ocotillo – a desert plant, that even when it appears quite dead, may spring to life after a rainfall. Arizona fences are often constructed of cut lengths of ocotillo which may leaf out after a rain. A resurrection plant, you might say, symbolic of new beginnings and new life.

I am so deeply grateful for my magical childhood in New Orleans, and all the loving ties that bind me to Louisiana. Yet Sedona is somehow the home of my heart. I spend as much time there as I can manage with my beloved ravens.

And, yes, the talons remain.