VOTE! 2012 SAMHUINN/BELTANE LONG POEM

[Earthwoman]

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[Cercatore]

Comprehension

Unbridled sea of raging waves,
Upon which peaceful vistas rest.
Immortal as the dying day,
A soul takes up it's coming test.

Who stands before the realm of power
And lifts the rock of wisdom high?
Who would seize that awful fate,
To cast the world, as if a die?

Yet one alone, the charge must take,
To history's final goal attain.
To tread upon an ancient path
This truth to shatter, yet retain.

What mortal flesh the light can stand,
What mind the symphony unfold,
But one who sees the sands of time,
And knows them as in thoughts of old.

Invictus, Excelsior, Caldazar,
Brave ring the cries of ancient days.
A song unsung yet ringing still,
Across eternal hidden ways.

Into the rift, into the void,
Into the heart which goes astray.
'till east is west and up is down,
And light and darkness interplay.

There is no rest, no passing friend,
No chance to husband might or will.
A razor's edge honed into fate,
And one such end a death so still.

Within the void that fills the sky
With eyes that see to distant suns
The mind must tread where angles dare
And travel till the journeys done.

[Mellinda]

Earth Mothers Lament

As I walk this land, I see litter everywhere,
Have I not given you this land, this sacred world,
Plants, trees, the insects and animals that walk and crawl,
And this is how you treat it, with such spite,
Why? Do you despise the gifts I give to you?

Look at the concrete! Where once there was a meadow,
Where wild flowers bloomed, and insect buzzed,
Sweet perfumes drifted by on the breeze,
Where herbs grew that healed and eased your pains,
Why? Don’t you like the smell of flowers?

I walk by the river, now with sadness in my heart,
Plastic bottles and shopping trolleys tossed aside,
Bin bags full of rubbish and beer cans floating by,
Fish floundering and gasping in all the rubbish there,
Why? Do you not like the rivers that gave you life?

Today I saw a barren land that once was full of trees,
No life there, the monkeys, birds and insects now long gone,
Not a sound, where once sounds of every kind once heard,
Buzzing, whooping, whistling and chattering to,
Why? Did you not like their songs of joy?

Now I no longer wish to walk this barren land,
You seem to care not for my gifts and life,
Do you wish me to bring this world to an end?
And spare you from a long drawn out lingering death,
Why? Should I not just finish it quick instead?

Do you not think? That I don’t see you destroying my land,
The world I so lovingly created for you,
There is sadness and anger, that is welling up inside,
That I can no longer hide, as it consumes every part of me,
Why? Do you make me feel this way so full of pain.

But all is not lost yet? You still have time!
You could change my mind and soothe this pain and anger,
Clean up the rivers, replant the trees and sow new meadows,
Listen to the songs of nature, playing in the hedgerows and trees,
Why! You could make this land beautiful and live again.

I need to see you treasure and respect the gifts given to you,
To put out this anger, before I can take no more,
Saw seeds of love and life, not death and sorrow on this land,
Then I will walk with you, hand in hand in peace and love,
Why? Would you not like to save these gifts so nearly lost?
You’re Loving mother.

By Lynda F Tallis (Mellinda) Copyright © 2010

[RedKite]

The Element of Water

… Emotion, love, compassion, flowing, constantly evaporating, cleansing …

I floated in my Mother’s womb; had perfect comfort there
but, at nine months, I was transferred out into Brother Air.
I loved my Brother but I missed my Sister so much that,
at Water’s edge, you’d often find me trying to get back
that floating feeling, that I really loved and missed so much.
That ‘wrapped in loving peace’ sensation and her tender touch.
The loneliness I felt, without her, made me want to scream.
That’s why I found myself, one summer, sitting by a stream.
The day was hot, the water cool, off came my shoes and socks.
I waded in, up to my knees, on the slime covered rocks.
I then remember looking up through water that was red,
and realised that blood was flowing from my wounded head.
I staggered up, I was so angry; “Why did you do that?”
Blaming Sister for my troubles, as on the bank I sat.

“I did not trip you little one.” she rippled back to me,
“So many things you have to learn, both good and bad, you see
I’m Sister to so many beings, be they Child… or Slime.
I could not tell you of them all, there really is no time.
But, for now, you have to walk the paths that are your Mother’s.
Breathe the Air and tame the Fire that comes from your Brothers.
I’ll always be evaporating, forming clouds of rain
to grow your crops for food; your vegetables and your grain.
I will never leave you, darling child, for this I have sworn.
Eighty percent of You… was Me… the day that you were born.
That will drop to just Fifty, when you are a full-grown man.
But do not worry, faithful one, it’s all part of life’s plan.
I kissed your wound… so it will heal quickly and you’ll laugh,
in years to come, when you look back along your chosen path."

She rippled a ‘Goodbye’ to me as she flowed on her way.
I wanted to come back, to talk with her, some other day.
But then I felt Her flow inside me, through my lymph and veins.
Is this how She gently guides me, just like a set of reins.
As she flowed through, I felt the knowledge building deep inside.
Not only did She give me life, She also was my guide.
I’m breathing; so She feeds me with oxygen from my chest.
This all happens, both day and night, she never seems to rest.
She carries food throughout my form and then removes the waste.
This job’s done so thoroughly and everything is paced.
I carry her within me always; this is how it’s planned.
To talk with Her, I need not reach a stream or walk the sand.
I knew we’d stay together, as I lay upon the grass,
……for half of me flows back to Her when it’s my time to pass.

© RedKite 2012

[Sciethe]

Driving Through

for Elph


The road is black and hard,
and sings to me;
Whines
“rubber on tar” it hisses
as it snakes into the amber light district
on the outskirts of her town.

My body knows:
It knows that my guts are twisting in their hammock,
and my arms ache as they dowse her electricity
that reaches to the outskirts and beyond.

My love, her body extends far beyond her skin
which pushes out this pressure
that potential,
So her distant touch runs through me
and causes my guts to turn in their hammock,
And my dreams to twist like fish in their sliding lilies,
And my feet to walk in such a way towards her
in her electricity that encases her and her town,
Which reaches down the street, and trails down the road
Hard and black in the orange light,
Twisting, lashing like a cut power cable;

like one of her hairs, dark, sinuous as an asp in its sanctuary
fallen to the orange lit pavement, sanctifying it

And lovers walk past, scatheless by her grace
sanctified by a hair, as the hard obscenity of my car,
And the soft glowing profanity of the orange light, are also made Holy.
Hand in hand, oblivious, their eyes are one eye,
their hands are one hand in the corona of her electicity,
Which causes the great slow fishes to slide and wallow together
In my hammock, and as woman and man approach a radiant lamppost
they pass one to either side; their hands are one hand

Oblivious of the miracle they walk on, still joined.
And her hair whispers the miracle like an asp

Whining and hissing
like rubber on tar
I drive on

Smiling, I dowse on.

[wyeuro]

Star Beams

And then the scintillating star beams spun
off aeons-distant suns a-glitter with
celestial nwyfre drawn from shimm’ring shores
of planets far away. Wave upon wave,
oh, one continuous wave of flying radiance
crashing, quantum waves forever breaking,
myriad on a starlit Gaian shore.

Gaia consecrates this starry light
and in her awestruck goblet keeps it pure
within the limpid misted crystal ball,
her dew-bead eye, her lensing atmosphere,
her myriad micro-prisms splay all spectra.

In leaves of trees and fields of living grass
star-beam chemistry so fine and subtle
makes like sight the breaking of these waves
this rich continuous flow of speaking light.

Sleek seals on rocky shores weave, yelp and yawn
in ecstacy, drunk with the star-beam flow
the air is filled with networked insect wings
lensing the filtered light to Gaia’s mind.

And in the circle of the centring sun
Gaia, good gangly girl, now grasps the Grail
in sensitive celestial hands held lightly,
the grail-gift of the constantly renewing
sweet elixir in the softly singing
jewelled bowl of all the spinning years
all transcending time and space aside,
gives as of old, in simple dignity.

We drink it with the waters of our world.
We breathe it in the winds that wind through woods.
We hear it in the flying flutes of fauns.
It’s in the fervour of a lover’s song,
the snowflake’s magic maze, the wildcat’s wail.
Its effervescence sparkles in our eyes.
We send love flying to those distant stars.

[Dragonwyst]

The Zombification of Percival Pennock

Young Percival Pennock, like any fine lad,
spent days riding skateboard. He wasn’t too bad
at turning a trick on his scooter as well -
and running and jumping – though, sometimes he fell.
That may have had something to do with events,
in the manner of omens or dire portents.

It began in the deepest and darkest of night:
Wet blood on his pillow awoke him with fright.
He went to his parents who helped him in haste
with tissues, clean linen, ice carefully placed
on the back of his neck, and with his nose pinched,
the bleeding was stopped and they thought it was cinched.

Though Percival looked a bit pale the next day -
“You’re tired,” said his Mum, sending him off to play.

Then Percival scraped both his knees in a fall;
the blood down his legs made a mess in the hall.
“A mop!” yelled his Dad. “I will deal with this flood.”
And swiftly he sorted the surplus of blood,
while Mum applied ointment and bandaged him up.
But still his knees oozed ‘til they bled out a cup!

Young Percy looked pallid. “It’s not enough sun,”
said Mother, and patted him. “Now, off you run.”

The next was a tooth that was loose in his head.
He bit on his pie. It came out. How it bled!
He rinsed out his mouth and the flow seemed to ease,
but it bled the next day when he chewed on his peas.
The day after that his gum bled a bit more,
and this carried on for not three days, but four!

“Never mind,” said his Mum. “It should heal in a week.”
Poor Percy looked pasty. He seemed rather bleak.

The final blow came when he injured his toe.
The last of his blood trickled out in the flow.
“Oh, look what you’ve done!” gently chided his Ma,
“You really have taken this matter too far.”
“Well, now you won’t go around making a mess,”
said his Dad, “and that suites me, I have to confess.”

With skin cold as putty and looking quite grey,
Percival bled not a drop from that day.

Now each Halloween from that time to the present
young Percival finds both rewarding and pleasant.
Oh, how he moans, as he glares with black eyes.
His hair sticks out straight from his head – fuzzy-wise.
His zombie appearance gives all such a fright.
With candy shoved quickly out into the night
the doors are slammed shut until Percy is gone.
Then he shares with his friends when the night’s work is done.

[Earthwoman]

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