Reindeer Run (17 November 2019)

Hearing anew the call of Mystery,

I take up the antler rack and hooves

that I’d long-ago put aside

when visioning over-ran me in doubt

and fled;

leaving me abandoned at the Stag Door!                               1

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

and go galloping with the herd!

Transfixed in Mystery’s sway,

full of 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 go galloping with the herd!

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 generations beyond counting.                                            3

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

and go galloping with the herd!

Swerving with the herd,

descending into a cavernous glade

I hear my own archaic song

sung by the wind in the trees,

   the hooves upon the ground,

      and the silent light of the moon

casting shadows wherever we run!                                         4

I get up, 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 herd turns yet again—

and I am left – with a feeling of naughting,

stranded near a tall, ageless tree,

awaiting what only Mystery can tell!                         5

Panting, kneeling, swooning, Moon-Loony;

stayed in the velvety darkness.

There in the deep, liminal glade,

the arche of mysticism shines-forth;

strong as the musk of the Stag

and yet smooth as Moonlight!                                      6

Ever-riveting human consciousness,

it is given

in communion-like draughts

as the Darkness transfigures our Way.                                   7

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

and go galloping 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!