This poem is not about blood sacrifice. Please do not be alarmed.
I stand within this sacred place
Feel my heart begin to race
Great oak trees stand around me on all sides
A great stone altar to the east resides
A druid stands within his grove
Lights a fire, lights Nature's stove
The night is almost over now
Dawn is coming, and I think wow
What will happen when the sun
Tells us the new day has begun?
Will I scream in mortal fear
Or will I embrace the dawn so dear?
The druid gently takes my hand
My attention he does command
Not by words or orders spoken
But by his silence unbroken
He turns me so that I face west
Where the water element rests
He turns me south to know the fire
And north to where earth does inspire
Then he leads me to the east
I walk a couple yards at least
And then I touch the altar of stone
He then speaks to me in a gentle tone
"Lie down upon this altar so hard
My druidess, my little bard
At sunrise you shall be upon
This altar to greet the dawn."
He lets go of me and walks away
I am afraid but I obey
I lie down upon the hard cold stone
Feeling strangely not alone
I hear a drum begin to sound
Feel my blood begin to pound
My face turns up to meet the sky
I see it even through my sightless eye
I find myself in mystic state
Where things are all beautiful and great
Where Earth and sky and person are one
Where I can greet the rising sun
At the instant the sun a-rises from the night
I feel a total immense delight
I feel no danger, feel no fright
Instead I feel the trees' huge might
The oaks around me seem to sing
As a great and joyful cry does ring
From my friend the druid and I
And the equinoctal sun commands the sky
After awhile I do climb down
From the altar to the ground
My druid friend speaks to me then
""He says the single word, awen.
He leads me from the grove so still
He walks with me doesn't stop until
We have reached a coffee shop in town
He takes me in and sits me down
At a table and orders coffee
And a great big breakfast for me
After I eat and drink coffee
He speaks to me softly
"When you lay upon that altar of stone
After I left you there alone
You offered yourself willingly
And walked away unharmed you see
Because the elements are very nice
And really don't want blood sacrifice."
I understood then that I
Was never ever meant to die
That my sacrifice had been a token
An offering of skin and flesh unbroken
No blood was supposed to be shed
No death, no fear, no dread
Just me and the earth and sky
Nobody is supposed to die.
Death is not what Nature needs
She needs loving and loyal deeds
She doesn't want mortal fear
She wants us to call her kind and dear.
She wants us to come and take a chance
By joining in the earthly dance.
I really hope this will be my last poem. I can't seem to stop writing.
I am going to try my best to save anything else for the next competition. Oh yeah...
By Green Druid, copyright September 24, 2004.
Green Druid
