Tragic demise of the Matriarch

Tarek Ali Hassan

A vision for a mime or modern ballet drama
Yin-Yang, a secret note, 
Who is afraid of Virginia Wolf and the 
Autumn of the Matriarch 
a Tragedy about the demise of Isis 

contemplation one 

Thus spoke Horus the son as he tearfully eyed the great and mighty Isis: 

I saw her on her bed of flowers on a sunny afternoon 
unwanted, forgotten, shriveled and shrunk 
the flowers had grown thorns 
I saw her ask 
is this it? 
I am old I am dying 
I am cold I am crying 
is this IT? 
how can that be ? 
all the sound and fury .. to this? 

I saw her wrinkled 
remembered her glory 
the unstoppable magic 
forever young .. 

that terrible strength was her weakness 
her downfall 
ever protected from the knowledge of mortality 
by feigned immortality 
and action 

you can't get old 
decades and generations 
learnt from her, worshiped her, adored her and applauded her 

her mark indelible 
the energy inexhaustible 
you can't get old 
hopeful, victorious, glorious 
.. for right 
with cruel certainty .. 
you can't get old 
you can’t die 
you can’t loose 
you can't loose 
enjoying the short round 
of winning 

of winning the game of chess 
you can't get old 
you can’t die 
you won’t die 

and Horus remembered: 

I saw her charging the baddies like nothing else in the World could, I saw her laughing, 
I saw her accomplishing, asserting, achieving 
I saw her asking, 
for information 
and more information 
from the "official" quarters 
as though she didn't know it all 
but she liked to give her knowledge 
Official backing official vindication 

a magical sixth sense 
had told her 
that women were disempowered 
she had to be a pioneer in the art of enquiry and learning 
for she knew that she was .. important .. primordial 

but after the second great war in heaven woman was disempowered, reviled, demeaned 

denied and demeaned, 
a few meaningless gestures were left 
for the sake of appearance and decorum 

but she was an exception to all that sham 
she would speak with authority 
and would never get old or weak 

The guide for the perplexed 
teacher fighter counselor guide 
soldier sailor general 
tutor maker creator 
hammer clamour expert chide 
and always supreme magician brings it off 
and always wins 

wins the game 
the game of chess 

and then she was suddenly discovered shriveled and afraid on that sofa of thorns 

denied neglect, denial, rejection, staring her in the face 
on that sunny afternoon 
when she asked .... 

"Physician heal thyself" 
doctors never get ill 
Isis, great Isis 
can you face your fear? 
can you resolve this fear for I can't 
primal mother 
mother yourself! 
calm this crying 

she asked about getting old 
and no one answered 
the all-powerful was now asking 
about weakness! 
The multitudes of worshippers had disappeared, confused 
the subtle mounting rejection that pursues the weak was overtaking her 

and no one answered her 

who will answer? 
who can make their voice heard? 
so far up or so far down? 
how can any one imagine 
how vulnerable 
the invulnerable are? 

and I Horus cried 
at her door: 

I loved her so and hated her 
how can she smite us all with that ocean of inexplicable weakness? 

The all-powerful Goddess, supreme mother Creatrix? 

how I wept over the lying centuries 
of feigned omnipotence, the centuries of 
our selfish unquestioning worship, 
our unfair dependence 

all the energies squandered 
on paper thin delusions 
collapsing like dominoes 

I loved her so 
but in her prime she had erected 
all imaginable forms of .. BARRICADE ! 
she WAS so powerful ! 
in her feigned omnipotence 
she had made herself .. UNTOUCHABLE ! 
Some force made her .. UNTOUCHABLE ! 
A fortress of FORTITUDE 
she would never open the door 
No one of her multitude of worshippers ever dreamed of opening the door 

even I the great Horus sensed the anxiety gnawing at my liver: 

when the crunch comes 
all will fall apart and I shall be powerless to help her 
perhaps I the great Horus was too ignorant 
too arrogant 
too weak too meek 
"voie unique sans issue" 

and then I hated her for exposing us without mercy 
because I loved her so and could not love 
she was the destruction of all male arrogance and make-believe 
her lessons to mankind were electrifying 
and then, 

I sat by the great river and wept: 
how it hurt that I could only 
look at her pain ... 
watch her shrivel and die 
and know .. 
just know .. 

consciousness without power 
is this heaven or hell? 

is it wisdom? is it fear? 
or arrested maturation? 
why then this penetrating consciousness? 
something arrested in the flowering of this universe? 
from the great egg at Hermopolis 
a big bang? 
a wrong turning somewhere? 

who will ever tell? 

(Contemplation two) 

when they had finally watched her shrivel and slowly die 
they called her THE GREAT VIRGIN MOTHER 
and they smothered her in highest reverence 

and the great virgin HAD to be impregnable.. 

Oh primordial Isis all is exposed now 
will you still make all lovers impotent 
for to protect your delusions .... 
our delusions 
of propriety? of form? 

has anyone of these millions smothering you in worship imagined how lonely the revered icons are? The virgin mother? how cold it is up there? 

Is it now too late? 
Too too late? 

who will dare fly high enough to share your joy or dive deep enough to assuage your pain? 
must the great and mighty be shrouded in unattainability? 
.... to cover up their need? 
what curse has made necessity of all this pretence? 
a curse has taught us to despise and trample what we attain 

Act three 

oh great and mighty Isis! 
since your struggle for power with Ra 
you, the supreme, were whisked out of circulation 
It had to be so, even you, agreed at first 
the supreme virgin mother of all things, balsam healer for all wounds, untouchable! 

the price for challenging Raa and winning is to be made untouchable! 
through a thousand and one iron-clad ploys and toys 
and you affirmed this terrible twist 
this subtle Nemesis 
we are trained: whatever makes itself vulnerable to us we trample and destroy 
for to drool over and worship the unattainable, the distant and the hard 

familiarity breeds contempt we teach 

we should have taught familiarity breeds respect! 

familiarity is midwife to loving 

how much did the Gods suffer then 
on the mount of Olympus? 

chosen home or forced exile? 

pearls must not be thrown to the swine? We are told! 

but pearls die slowly in their velvet lined protective boxes 
and how about the true seekers 
the seekers with a heart forced into conservation separation 
must all, suffer this curse and be deprived and starved? 

what curious formula 
suffers the greatest things in life to be untouchable? 
and how we all pay 

the great untouchables and those who yearn to touch 
"more than the calf yearns to suck does the cow yearn to suckle" 
but to yearn is weak both ways 
and it was decreed .. weakness takes you to the accursed land beyond where Osiris entombed cries for help 

O Isis und Osiris 

Once upon a time the story goes, 
He did 
offer himself to the swine 
and was mauled and torn apart 
She did 
offer herself to the swine 
and was mauled stoned and torn apart 

did they build a symphony of new values? risking all, giving all? 
did they set an example? 
a new framework of understanding? 
or did they condemn and terrorise the whole race? 
and seed the birth of institutions 
to affirm the condemnation damnation 
to justify the terror? 
the end of history dawns and no one as yet knows 
which is the more terrible Golgotha: 

to give and be vulnerable 
or to refrain and stay immune? 

and in our confusion 
we have busied ourselves 
inventing ingenious punishments 
for both postures 
for both sexes 

(Requiem for a powerful woman) 

much loved one 
will you still pay the ultimate price 
for this spastic rejection of all weakness 
will you still meet all others 
in attack formation 
on the battlefield 
even in your hour of need ? 
.. still ? 
and weigh me, loved one 
victim tyrant, 
with the guilt of doing battle 
with a dying woman? 


oh immortal mortal beloved 
most beloved 
how well you laid the trap 
but it was laid so well 
you WERE so powerful 
overpowering even in your hour of need 
and the damage was done 
and what has been done can not be undone with tears or surgery 
"the finger writes... ", 

once before the fatal rendez-vous 
at the battlefield 
we heard the echo vibrating through our bones 
the bones of potential combatants rattled 
let me love you! .....again.... 
love me 
and let me love you..... ....again..... 
t'is the resolution of this pain and ridiculous stand off 
love and let love ... again .. between equals 
truly vulnerable 
t'is the answer to this call 
admit to one inch of vulnerability! 

I can't let you in! 
I can't let you in! 
I can't let you in! 
I can't let you in! 
I can't let you in! 
I can't let you in! 
I can't let you in! 

not now! not ever! never ! it was decreed! 

why this cruel proximity then? 
why has nature decreed this intractable proximity then? 

(contemplation 3) 

can you FORCE someone to be loved 
... how hard? 
can you force someone in need of love to be loved .. 
to be loved? 
the need for love, so overwhelming, 
overwhelms the sufferer into refusal of all preludes! 

where are the limits between loving and hurting? 
between rape and sexuality? 
between deviance and normality? 
between incest, taboo and bestiality? 
this fog makes cowards of us all 
or rapists? 
or automatons programmed 
or cold vessels steeped in frigidity and custom 

Oh for a potion that will bring forth the innermost reality? 
a potion to bridge this calamity of normality 
a potion to animate all dreams and fantasy 
into tongue muscle bone and sinew 
for to vibrate mother earth Isis anew 
into the immortal dance of creation 
and all vow a sacred pact inviolate 

vulnerability is strength 

vulnerability is the highest form of strength 

vulnerability is the highest form of love 

let them be forever banished from our midst all that will not take this vow 
and can not but abuse vulnerability..... 

the great fearless convulsed in terror 
I can't let you in ! 
not now! not ever! never! 
it was decreed 
this was decreed ...... 
W H Y ? ? ? 
.. by a blind man .... 
.. in a rage ... 
.. by an old man .. 
.. in a panic .. 

it was decreed ... 
during the fatal battle of the Patriarchs 
during the lost battle of the Matriarchs 
.. by a frightened woman .. 
in a guilt-ridden trance 
it was decreed ... 
.. by a scheming woman .. 
at a glance 
by a dead man 
it was decreed 


(Act the next the tragedy overtakes) 

and there was no alternative left to you 
but to thrash the whole world 
obsessively .. 
as punishment for intimations of tough tough mortality ! 

it was decreed 
that love shall be made powerless 
till it loses faith 
it was decreed 
the inner shall be separated from the outer 
for to divide and rule 
the yin or the yang never the twain shall meet 
for to divide and rule 
it was decreed 
the blind shall lead the blind 
and the divided shall lead the divided 
into make-believe wholeness ... 
and love shall be made powerless 
until it looses faith 


p.s. (a minor coda episode) 

and at the scene of the crime 
detectives found a scribbled note: 
Urgent to all concerned and to all humans who(faded) 
let it be known and beware (faded) 
for I have discovered this document 
before I was dried (faded) 
it is of (faded) (faded) 
(signature: P…… faded incomprehensible) 
it is part of an action plan 
it is old (faded) 
perhaps as old as (faded) (faded) 
by order of (unclear) 

it was decreed that a dead man's head 
shall be sewn onto a frightened woman's body 
and that this unnatural thing shall rule instead of the paired Gods and Goddesses of old 
Amon and Amaumet paired must be destroyed and erased by (faded) 
it was decreed and agreed 
after a terrible fight (faded) and the final treaty of (faded) (faded) submission of (faded) 

that this agreed unna... all male (faded) artifice made all-power..... compromise of (faded)the all devouring male God (faded) (faded) 
shall take male gender to the outside world (faded) 
and (faded) and shall wear male clothes and rule forever over (faded) 
it is agreed to disguise the (faded) (faded) (faded) (faded) 
and rule 
and rule 

and decide the mind set 
of all living things and rule 
and rule 
(faded) (faded) 
faded) (faded) (faded) 

even Isis the great (faded) acquiesced and signed(faded) so beware.. BEWARE (faded) 

thus said the note 
and naturally no one believed the macabre nonesense 
sounded like a Frankenstein story or a Nosferato fantasy 
and it was naturally relegated to the rubbish bin 


but I Horus know the full content of this last note scribbled by Maat the Goddess of truth and justice in her death throes as they dragged her to perpetual imprisonment in the dread underworld together with Osiris. 

at every sunrise and sun set 
my rays tell the tale and decipher the script but fall on a deaf world 
but hark one day the Sun shall not rise 
as even the deaf shall be forced to lament and mourn the unjust demise of the primeval mother