2008 BELTANE/SAMHUINN SHORT POEM ENTRIES

[Snægl]

Lay of Aelur

Land of my mother’s / scourged by men
You posture proudly / of your propriety.
Child of Jord you / yearn towards the Well,
To me stone seeking / suddenly come.

Your kind killed / this kin of Assabet.
Bloated and flooded / bound by her neck,
Slipped the water wight / from your words.
Blood begat blood / three bairns did come.

My brother stands / stifled and shackled,
My sister, shores / shining and fouled,
And me, tumbling slowly / towards the tents of dawn.
We three do stay through / terror and tears unbowed.

Strife’s apple trees / awoke me, Aelur,
Scouring the stones / from my seething back
Secreting the wight in the / smith’s stockade
Burying my bones / and burdening grain’s sheaf.

Yet this giver of gold / with gems silvered
Has bargained for frith / of family and wight-folk.
Land of her lips / offers lager and mead,
And ships of strong ale / to seat-mates pledged.

Five bands of pebbles / picked from the ship of fishes,
Thorp by panel form / the Foretelling-father’s staves,
One left to her hearth / holding my breast’s apple,
That frith and fellowship / flow under Glory and Mask.

~Catriona McDonald

[CelticWind]

The March of the Spiral

From a single point, the spiral descends—

Downward and downward throughout history and time… holding no straight reason, holding no straight rhyme.

From each point, you can see; there are many that were and are (and with guess, very well may be).

(Disease, famine, jubilee, feast, war, sex, murder, festival and creation)

All creations of the spiral, under its watchful, uncaring eye—we’re not but an accidental passerby.

Journey more—further down and down we go—see the rise and fall of once great civilizations, of the poet and thrall; colossal rocks striking our planet Earth like a child’s rag doll.

Does it hold true forever?

(Will it ever end?)

Perhaps never.

Perhaps we've only reached a bend.

[Jingle]

Sakura Haiku

Fluffy white branches
Fresh spring cherry blossom breeze
Hanafubuki

[Draziwekans]

Beltane Wish

Beltane’s a magical time, let natures vigour and enthusiasm our souls meet,
May we join you in this dance of life,
For all good things for which we strive,
From maiden to mother, bring new life all around,
Love, joy and laughter our life please surround,
Your caring nature please do show,
Enable mind, body and soul to grow.

Snakeman©

[Fitheach]

Charm of Sleeping

The Earth is a pool of water flowing
Flowing, ever flowing we are found
The land is a forest of trees growing
And in the boughs of sleep, we are bound

The sky is a gentle breeze blowing
Blowing ever blowing o’er the mound
The hearth, a peaceful fire glowing
And in it’s warm embrace, we are bound

The Milky Way is a silver web growing wider,
Revolving, ever revolving round, around.
The moon is a luminous sacred spider.
With silken strands of slumber, we are bound.

The galaxy is a labyrinth winding forever
Winding ever winding and then rebounds
Each path expanding, ending never
Within the path of slumber, we are bound

The Universe is a circle without border
Following ever following a trail of sound
The music of my harp brings holy order
And within its strain of sleep, we are bound.

[*Coyote*]

Wildings

Immense power, annunciation
Better than goth
Flowing
Veins and candlelight mingling
Twinkling into heavenly stars
Delicate dawns of ages gone by
Visions and starlight echoing

Mimic cynic clinical adversary
Heathenry and blasphemy and continuity
Mother daughter and holy spirit
Feed from softly silkened silence
Where freedom is everything to lose

In a morning's hope, a soul song

Beats shock my brain in blasts

Silvery frangipani vagabond ghost
Floating on brain waves of elysium
Aphrodite beckoning

Deepness enveloping shadows sing
And the light draws it all away
Left in the brilliance of autumn and wildings

Hear me, I am calling

[Papillon]

Some of you may remember a post about a dog being starved to death so say in the name of art, and I know many of you signed a petition against the artist. This was written about that story:

I was free once upon a time...
The wind in my fur,
And the sun on my back,
My life may have been hard,
But I want it all back
But they caught me,
And tied me,
And left me to die,

The pain of a stomach
With no food at all,
No comfort is found
The cold hard stone floor
Since they caught me,
And tied me
And left me to die

Surrounded by paintings
And statues of stone,
But I’m real flesh and blood
This isn’t my home
Since they caught me,
And tied me
And left me to die


I see you all coming to gawp and to stare
I beg you with eyes that are full of despair
Too weak to struggle with hateful old rope
Too weak to stand, or bark or hope
You look and pass on, look and pass on,
Can you not understand I am dying……