Reindeer Run (17 November 2019)

                             Hearing anew the call of Mystery--

I take up the antler rack and hooves

that I’d some-time-ago put aside_

when visioning was over-run in doubt

and fled;

leaving me abandoned

    without Inspiration, 

            yet stilled_ within sight the Stag Door!            1

I get up, I run, I leap, 

            am I leather-hided?--

and go galloping with the herd!

Transfixed in Mystery’s sway,

re-filled with earthen energy, I speed;

two-legged and glistening,

bounding along the instinctual path,

sweaty with supernal intent.                                        2

I get up, I run, I leap, leather-hided;

and I am galloping 

with the Stags of the Moon's Truth,

        Sharing in being Shared with them!!

Now Cloaked in Poetic Power,

I go as a biped among arctic Reindeer,

Three-Tined across a snowy mountain,

down into the ice-laced vale,

following paths drummed into the ground

by the hooves of generations 

                now beyond counting.                                 3

I get up, I run, I leap, leather-hided;

and go galloping with the herd!

Swerving with the moving flesh

of four-hooved antler crowned beings_

descending into a cavernous glade_

I hear my own Archaic Song

           sung by the wind in ancient trees,

                 the hooves upon the ground,

      and the silent Light of the Moon

casting shadows wherever we run!                               4

I follow, I run, I leap, leather-hided;

and go galloping with the herd!

Transfixed in the Night,

Life’s fecund powers surge within me

as the throng turns yet again—

and I am left – with a feeling of naughting,

stranded near a tall, ageless Oak,

awaiting what only Mystery can tell me!                      5

Panting, kneeling, swooning, Moon-Loony;

I am staid in the velvety darkness.

There in the deep, liminal glade,

the arche of Poetic Mysticism shines-forth;

strong as the musk of the Stag

and yet smooth as the Moonlight!                                6

Ever-riveting human consciousness,

Musing is a gifting given_

    in communion-like draughts

as the Darkness of the Deep Starred Void

embraces us_ 

                transfiguring our Way.                                   7

I am up_ I run, I leap, leather-hided;

galloping in Ek-stasis with the herd!

So mote it be!

Snow in the Eaves (12 November 2019)

Waking to the sound of a blowing squall,

I roused myself with winter glee_

first snowfall having come full-flown,

I rose to the window expecting to see_                             1

Faery-flakes dancing in the snowfall,

blown from the sidhe by wintry dreams!

“A frolick of white in the gray-bluish air

wisps snow up into our eaves!”

Dawn coming, snow falling fast_

I dressed and then descended

to light a fire in the hearth

with a brand that I had saved

                  since April’s last frost!                                      2

Faery-flakes dancing in the snowfall

caught my eye as if weirding dreams!

Sitting in the warmth of firelit dreams,

I saw – through a frosted window –

the snow in the eaves

of a neighboring house;

dancing merrily, enchanting me_

calling me out into wind and chill!                                      3

Faery-Flakes dancing in the snowfall

dazzled my eye with wintry dreams!

Swaying in solemn breezes they dance_

young Maples swish and veer,

waving their arms;

praising Notting with ever-upturned limbs,

supple and still radiant in winter’s fray!                              4

                 Bridge: Hearth-fire illumines humane dwelling

   with ambient light and reddening heat—

consciousness expanding into the cosmos,

   seeking communions in Vast Sanctuaries!

Calling to the raccoon

that lives in the hedgerow,

I hear its revel and declamation

that snow drifts high before its den!

Hidden from the world;

      Deep in hibernation’s contemplation_

In snowfall’s swirls it conjures intimations

of a dream of more rustic revelations!                               5

Faery-Flakes dancing in the snowfall

Open my eyes to weirding dreams!

Three cardinals flew

onto bare-boned boughs of the Forsythia

nearby; at our neighbor’s porch!

Now in their prudent twig-stepping,

I discern the Wayes I might now go,

_all a-birding for truth.                                                    6

Faery-Flakes dancing in the snowfall,

Cleanse my eyes with wintered dreams!

Snowflakes amaze and dazzle me with light

as the Sun comes out over a far-off ridge!

Here I am_

alone in earthen communions,

ready for visions that render me

un-at-home; a Stranger in the Wood.                             7

“Let’s boot up and go out walking_

      Our eaves are filling with snow!”

_And as the snowfall tapers

into meditative lulls, I hear_

upon the eaves of my mind’s ek-stasis

the bells of a Winter Solstice reveling—

calling me home to the fires of Heart & Hearth!                    8

Hurrahya!