What does compassion feel like?
the leader asks. I can see across
the equator into her London
lockdown room. Imagine sunlight.
I think of rain, its soft fingers
on my hot shoulder … of drawing
the river close, of sitting among
boulders and paperbarks, silent,
watching the patterns emanate
from currents, breezes, kayaks,
fish, more and more complex
the longer I look, and dropping
my eyelids to hear it all as
one thing: the rainbow serpent
twisting and undulating, making
little splashes that kiss
the shore, there …
there … there
The rainbow serpent or Waugal is the spirit of Derbarl Yerrigan (the Swan River) in Western Australia.
First published in Tarot 10, June 2025
Jackson 