2008 IMBOLC/LUGHNASADH LONG POEM ENTRIES

[katsu]

Notice: Please add your original long poems for the current Eisteddfod here. Long poems must be over 30 lines.

[DaRC]

Lady Alpe D'Huez
================
In a mountain smithy Weland beats
hard hands on his forge. Hammers strong souls -
The tenfold mort of one hundred wreaths.
On his drive they die a thousand deaths.
Looking upwards the lie of the land
tightly holds on to treacherous slope
invites cycles to challenge the climb.
The dread smith's dark anvil's judgement call -
it rips carma from revenant cyclists.

As each bike soul breaks Lady Alp bows,
gently gathering, netting grey wisps,
Weland's wife is edelweiss pure, her
goodwill is graceful as a goshawk,
with a visage of powder'd snow
and radiant blue bleepers bright.
Her silver wing'd cloak's slender feathers
have ghostly grey quills that shimmer, glint,
reflections of rays and radiance.

Switchbacks swirl, hands hammer,
tenfold truths, real rigour,
depart dreams, rips rainbows,
mountain mounts, breath breaker,
solders soul, trips tenfold.

Break the illusions of future -
the ever looked toward top,
wishing how pain was past,
the easy ascent.

Forget the illusions of past -
looking back at stature gained,
holding hard prior achievement,
the erstwhile effort.

Push past illusions of physical pain -
elfshot arrows in the back,
screaming calves on the abattoir way,
burning thighs needle bright.

Erase the illusions of ego -
victory over victims,
bragging at the bar,
self inflated spirit.

Crack the illusions of time -
the desperate desire,
of pressure and pace,
do more, be better.

Tame the illusions of haste -
the race over life,
or will over reality,
of human over hump.

Shatter the illusions of image -
the presentable portrait,
and all the gear (oh no idea),
the deceptive looks.

Correct the illusions of ease -
the shallow effortless shape
of content gratification
and affluent leisure.

Finish the illusions of failure -
a little "I can't" voice,
whose wheedling whinge
is one's bankrupt decline.

Finally the illusions of weakness -
a decrepit blemish of inclination
in the face of adversity
that prostrates the powerful.

Lady Alp sings her songs
of battle and despair
Lady Alp takes those deaths
and nets them with her hair.

She is so great, she transforms it,
weakness for inner strength,
She is so great, we honour it,
failure for mastery,

And of those thousands deaths?
Nine hundred and ninety nine breaths,
She keeps one for her Silver wings
a feather is all she sings,
the rest in rebirth given back
as the cyclists backwards track.

[Salomea]

The view of starry night with few grams of doubts in background

I’m standing on the top
The city’s under me
In a swirl
Miniature of eternity
Movement, rush, hush,
‘till crush
Stop!!!
I’m telling to myself
I’m yelling at myself
Wait...
Look at the crowd
Don’t let them lead
Watch them close
Is there anything you need?
Anything you want to own?
Make changes
Shift in your own form
Cause they would do it wrong

I’m standing on the top
The questions are around me
There’s trust and serenity
That’s how I promised myself to be
But now it’s not so clear
I fear...
To lose my way
Never stop fighting...
The voice in my head says
For what?
Is that for me?
For truth from above and underneath?
Why?
There are people in need...
Never stop?
No matter what?
Cause there’re still some, who believe
And for them
I’m standing my ground
I still stand.

[City Druid]

Open eyes to a new dawn

Good morning
Good morning
awake from your sleep
Good morning,
open eyes
deep breath
stretch
and yawn
good dawn to you my friend.

Chirping birds
Crocking frogs
Open eyes,
Everywhere…
Spawning with new life,
Good morning
new horizons
golden Spears of light to you my friend.

fresh cut grass,
a warm gentle breeze,
a blooming face,
open eyes
blue skies
a sneeze
budding leaves,
good health and happiness to you my friend.

currents changing
dreams making
ideas formatting,
open eyes,
new shoots of life…
a fanfare of flourished blossom,
visualise a clear direction,
safe and pleasant journey to you my friend.




Dough, spelling mistake again.

[wyeuro]

it has been a long journey

it has been a long journey, winding among hills, blue-green and yellow,
the whole of it, viewed from the very beginning, a whole round world,
became the ground from which i took my first step, and from there
the glimpse of the whole, new, other-centred world the next, and so on...

there was uncanny confidence at first - i scarcely trusted it –
as if i knew already the foreign trees, the scented earth, the sky,
and knew also the aethereal people who approached me there.
“laugh,” they said, “be mirthful!” so i was, as if i knew them well.

but then there was the tearing sound i felt rather than heard:
almost a pain it was, as when a seed-coat ruptures for its root,
and from my breastbone... o ye angels... was a sword withdrawn?
and did i bleed? i did! o ye angels, yes, indeed, i bled...

i bled my history, my soul’s story, my journey it was i bled.
down my veins the pale skies’ power flowed and flowered a further million
following, no-longer-foreign, many-peopled skies. the sky-petalled suns,
the mysterious, clouded moons, the long cold draught of myriad-starred skies!

grief i bled , anger, and great snaking wreaths of coiling fear.
i stumbled, numbed and clumsy, and i blindly, almost plummeting,
fell though the mist, though the view faded, thought the night itself failed –
yet i moved or else was moved, or else the world it was that moved,

moved through me, or i through it, or neither moved at all,
each being still, both sampling successive relativities, mine to its, its to mine.
spiralling we climb; we spiralling soar, we fall spiralling. all power is vortex.
love sends us out spinning, we spin, love calls us spinning home.

i was seeded in the womb of vision. in the dream of sleep i woke.
i am the light. i am the mothering eagle, the eagling mother, the gyre
of seeking, the seeking gyre of finding, the winding gyre,
the gyring wind, the lift of wing, the wing. i am the manifestation.

[pangurban]

Time.

Sit silent and still,
go within to a place
where time does
not exist.
Think again,
change your perception.
Free your mind
from the
teaching of man,
that sees
time as an unending
line, stretching out
before him.
Day,
night,
week,
month,
year....... then death.
But time is
a spiral!
It has
no beginning
or end.
It started
in the cosmic explosion
where life
took its
first
faltering steps.
And will end in the
coldness
of a dieing
universe.
But the spiral
is never
that easy.
Where does it
end?
And where does it
start?
It turns ever on
its death in its
beginning
Back and forth
in unending life.

Pangur-ban 12/01/2008

[Rob]

La Danse Macabre

The scene is set upon a castle clad
With banners hung by dark eyed lads
Tired peasants are busy closing the market
As maidens hang belladonnas and roses off parapets

A man clad in black set the dining hall so
All called may be present; nobles' high peasants low
This is a dance to which all come in the end
It is a dance they have seen, but met none who attend

The bright sun has set upon the dark Samhain** sky
All his guests now come forth some stand tall others cry
The draw bridge is lowered, the gate raises to god
The Ball has begun la Danse Macabre*

Some try to play chess, with their still unseen host
Others sit on the sidelines as if watching a show
Some try to believe it's a great endless waltz
But when it all ends they realize their fault

Then their host shall come forth holding a sickle of steel
He is immortal and great, though never eaten a meal
He walks in the room, dancing with all the guests
None can deny the ungodly host his request

He picks and he chooses partners for the floor
the dancers are likely but no man is ignored
he will move a pawn there, and rook to a space
the cautious buy time, but they cant win this race

Varied people have come monks' despots and knights
But after the celebration all are shunned from the light
As they dance round and round, the flesh falls from their bones
Their skeletal corpses shant return to their homes

Consider our lives, our own mortal dance
but no matter the options, you don't have a chance
living with caution may buy you more time,
but the day you start hiding, is the day that you die

So to all the worlds souls, all the rich and the poor
I leave you these words, took from life's greatest lore
Enjoy the great party, live with smiles and light
Take each step with relish or step into the night

~rob

*translates from italian to "the dance of death"

[Moonrising]

Drum Song


Sky reach down and touch the arc of the trees
Trees wend your roots down deep into the soil
Earth, moss, rock
Strength of stone and green life glowing
Sun through the leaves, gold, sweet
Warm touch on soft fur
Fox in the bushes scents the air
Breathes energy from the land, in, out
Runs like a flowing shadow
Eyes wide, nose aloft
Paws on earth, moss, rock

Hawk pauses overhead
Wings beating, then soars
Spirit of air
Fierce eyes, sharp beak, talons ready to tear
Take life from creatures of earth
From on high he sees the world turning

The river
Salmon leaps, riding the undercurrent
droplets fly, catch the sun
She mounts the wear, skin gleaming
Full flow of life streams through her shining body

Fire, fire, fire in the forest
Devours dead wood, burns away the old
Cleansing fire scours the land
Old Stag runs, runs, tires, falls
His time has come, Young Stag, he leaps
Over earth, moss, rock
Life pounds through veins
Freedom burns in every sinew
Alive, alive, alive

[Binky]

The Beginning

And so it all begins
With a silent breath
A pounding heartbeat

All your senses aroused
The beautiful colours
And sensational sounds

Your life begins slowly
With much to be seen
To be touched and heard

We know nothing at all
About what our path holds
Or where it will lead

So much beauty to behold
To love and to cherish
Such a wonderful feeling

We are the lucky ones
The world is here for us
For now, atleast

As the years pass by
A lot of things we loved
Will leave or change

But do not fear this
The paths may split
Yet they always rejoin

And so whatever you do
Whatever you choose to do
Love, cherish and care

A life well lived
A marvel to remember
Be happy and thankful

But something to know
The next will be better
And we shall meet again