"Song of the Lark", a poem by David Whyte, was read to me a few hours before our Tuesday meeting -

so I looked it up and found the poem and Whyte's explaination of an exaltation of larks as a symbol of humanity's ability to speak out into the world and the mystery of the feminine, as noted below.

The Song of the Lark by David Whyte   on http://gumption.typepad.com/blog/2011/12/david-whyte-on-feminine-wisdom-courage-and-power.html

The song begins and the eyes are lifted
But the Sickle points towards the ground
Its downward curve forgotten in the song she hears
While over the darkwood rising or setting
The Sun lifts on cool air the small body of a singing Lark

The song falls, the eyes raise, the mouth opens
And her bare feet on the Earth have stopped
Whoever listens, in this silence, as she listens
Will also stand open, thoughtless, frightened by the Joy she feels
The pathway in the field branching to a hundred more no one has explored

What is called in her rises from the ground and is found in her body
What she is given is secret even from her
This Secret is the seed in her of everything she is
And falling through her body to the ground from which she comes
It finds a hidden place to grow and rises and flowers in old wild places
Where the dark edged cycle cannot go

The Silence is the seed in her of everything she is
And falling through her body to the ground from which she comes
It finds a hidden place to grow and rises and flowers in old wild places
Where the dark edged cycle cannot go

Whoever listens, in this silence, as she listens
Will also stand open, thoughtless, frightened by the Joy she feels
The pathway in the field branching to a hundred more no one has explored
.................................................................................................................

As a marine biologist who worked as a naturalist in the Galapagos, and who has always felt and expressed a keen appreciation of the natural world, Whyte introduced another poem by explaining that a collection of larks is called an exaltation of larks, and asserting that he considers the lark an emblem of humans' ability to speak out in the world. He then recited Song of the Lark, another poem that reveals - or perhaps more precisely, revels in - the mystery of the feminine, which was inspired by [a postcard of] a painting by Jules Breton from 1884:

What is called in her rises from the ground
and is found in her body,
what she is given is secret even from her.

The second form of feminine courage explored during the evening was a willingness to ground that mystery in the world. Whyte sees vulnerability as a source of strength rather than weakness, reflecting wisdom I have encountered in words written and spoken by empowered and empowering women such as Oriah Mountain Dreamer (through whom I first discovered David Whyte) and Brene Brown, who also advocate - and model - connection and compassion through courage, vulnerability & authenticity.

Whyte recited poetry exemplifying strength through vulnerability, including  a poem by the courageous Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva, I Know the Truth, remarking how much more authentic such a bold assertion seems when it comes from a woman vs. a man. He also recited his own poems The House of Belonging and Start Close In, the latter of which suggests a step-wise approach to grounding the mystery in the world:

Start close in,
don't take the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don't want to take.