“Seeing that certain medicines are discovered,”
wrote Paracelsus, physician-alchemist of plants,
“which preserve the human body and its power to recover
from sundry ailments, and which perchance
protect it altogether -
marvelously - from stresses, afflictions,
superfluities, and the weathered
diminutions of its constitution;
seeing that such noble remedies -
when these dreaded infirmities
have broken through our defenses -
take them away — then universities
and physicians must study these medicines,
and from them learn healing’s foundation:
for such remedies contain the Primum Ens,
the Original Substance of Creation.
These herbs, therefore, rejuvenate one’s frame —
so that like the fabulous Halycon of myth,
it survives the storms that would otherwise chain
the divine spirit’s life-giving gift.
In short, the medium through which life acts
consists of elementary forms and patterns
found in Nature, and which traps
the Quintessence of Universal Matter:
thus, there are some substances
in which this Quintessence, bright and miraculous,
is contained in greater abundance,
and from which it may be artfully extracted —
such a substance is especially the herb called Melissa.”
And so to Lemon Balm, the mind to clear and still,
we seek its sweet felicity —
its gentle humility to soothe and fill
bewildered hearts with hope’s simplicity.
Whether its essence is enjoyed, or its tea imbibed,
let Melissa like the solstice Kingfisher
a fertile New Year renewal provide ~
and impart the concord of every well-wisher.
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