VOTE! 2011 SAMHUINN/BELTANE LONG POEM ENTRIES

[Earthwoman]

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[Crimson Stormfire]

"samhuinn night"

harvest moon rises on samhuinn night.
the moon full and blazing red,
jacks lanterns light the path, smiling and patterned.
children and adults dress in the garb of their ancestors and monsters feared.
travel the wailing wall between the realms.
the veil has thinned.

the harvest moons rises higher still,
fading from blaze red to hunters ash.
the candle wicks burn in jacks lanterns,
as he guides us in the wilds.
Seeking as we may what,
our harvest this samhuinn.

the hunters ash rises and pales,
to the silvery slip of the goddess face.
the light washes all in silver hue,
a hush about the land enters.
amid the laughter of children,
the smells of soul-cakes and ale,
the druids and witches convene,
jacks lanterns guides them along their path to seek,
ancestor spirits and elder gods.
to glean their knowledge as children sleep.
round the fires they go,
chanting and singing, weaving to and fro,
a magic spell so cast, in the waning light of jacks lantern still
and guided by the light of pale silver hue.

the gods and spirits dance with us now,
hidden by our own masks and disguises, the revelry grows to fever pitch.
we can feel them with us now. merry and lithe.
ecstatic to be loved and revered again.
laughing they dance and drink and share stories round the fire,
sharing hidden knowledge through a well place punchline,
or sad story of loss.
The harvest moon begins to set taking on a golden hue,
as the veil parts in early dawn,
that time twixt the realm when moon and sun meet.
in the hearths and hearts all is quiet as the elder gods and spirits slip away,
leaving boons and gifts to those mortals sleeping the groves and circles,
round the embers of dying samhuinn fires and the dead jacks lanterns.

The last summer star fades into an azure sky,
as we all awaken to the dying summer,
and celebrate the birth of winter in the between times known as
samhuinn the second harvest, the fall of the year.
and look forward to the coming winter ,
with warm hearts and hearths. as our harvest was bountiful and plenty.


C.S.

[seabhac star]

RAIN PASSING OVER WATER

Hissing
Whisper
A goddess whisper
To stone, to tree, to sea.

Lightly
Biting
Rain smiting
Wood and sand and cheek.

Hailing
Sailing
Cloudy fingers bailing
Out to glade, to pool, to vale.

Crisp
Wisp
An autumn’s lisp
Of sleet, leaves, and gale.

Simmer
Shimmer
Shadow and glimmer
The breathing stirs then rests.

Breath
Bequeath
A subtle, soft tempest
As Awen, as life, as death.

Donned
Pond
By fern and frond,
The veil of here and of beyond.

Mist
Kissed
The drizzle persists,
The water’s top responds.

Pour
Shore
And forest floor
By stone and well and feather…

River
Lover
Water-song giver
As today,upon a time, and forever.

[wyeuro]

ancestor god of the land-taming times.

deep magic
drew me
from the all-generating
chaos

into the forms and fantasies
of the planetary drama
to pit my greed and rage
against cruel rocks of denial.

i piled them rock upon rock
i built a high tower
i saw all the way to the rising sun
and away to the western sea.

and the green forest crowded close
around my tower and fed me with fruits
and much venison. the stately sharing kindness
of trees nurtured my happiness.

rich brambles throve around my door
the fruit trees followed me home
herbs sprang up all a-buzz with bees
and the honey ran down my walls.

by a sparkling stream i cut a reed
and piped for the birds and the fishes and flocks
and i sheltered them among shady trees
and i wove my garments of their fleece

my hard iron ax cut deep - i felled
great trees, my forest friends, i slew.
i made fine halls, strong furniture and ships
carriages, firewood, fence posts - cleared the land.

and gathered into my barn the annual feast
of fruit and grain and all the bounteous gifts
of autumn in a land of sun and showers
and pleasant breezes singing in the hay.

and still i plundered nests among the stubble
found late eggs to add to my winter store
and plump nestlings, rabbits, hares and more
and in the forest acorns

falling leaves revealed the clustering nuts
in forest glades - i cut my stalwart staff
to knock them down, i filled my sack
with hazel, chestnut, walnuts, bulging full.

my cellar stocked, i built my blazing hearth ,
which purred for me all winter while the land
slept under snow. my barrels, slowly emptying,
supplied me all i needed till the spring.

i filled my hours with loving labour,
cobbled my boots, smoothed to velvet softness
skins of deer and sheep, made saddles
harnesses and parchment too.

the cherishing richness and the generous habits
of loving nurture into which i came, tumbling,
established themselves in me even while i smiled
and basked in the smiling of our planet's mothering sky.

and when in my sleep i dropped like a ripe fruit
from the tree of my life, of my ancient lineage, my godhead,
looking over my shoulder, i saw the deep magic
drawing from chaos into the drama of life
the outrageous souls into the circle of forest calm
to the light of a purring blaze in a tower of outraged rock...

and i cherished them all,
deep in my all-holding chaos,
i cherished them all.

[Daryvas]

Anything, Everything

The permanence of
Anything, everything
Cannot be known,
For we, like vapor,
Appear and vanish
Too quickly to tell.
And in this brief
Anything, everything
We have called “life”,
Like so many
Slivered silvered clouds,
We cross the night sky
And leave with the dawn.
Like most, in this small
Anything, everything
We have called “awake”,
I have dreamed of
Finding that one piece
Of my eternity that
Could make from
My discordant notes
A symphony. You,
My love, are that
One anything, everything
I have always wanted
In dreams and
Dreamed of wanting.
You, my love, are
That one and only
Anything and everything
With whom I want
To spend any and
Every day of whatever
This life is or will be.
For the anything and everything
Of which I have ever
Hoped or dreamed to hope,
Is wrapped up in the
Anything and everything
Of You.

[Earthwoman]

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