The Second Year - Winter
Samhain 2003 - Imbolc 2004
At Samhain I moved to my new home in the heart of the country, new friends, new experiences. A time of change.
The Dead Time
Earth
On a gold dinar of Saladin and a silver denier of Richard, Coeur de Lion
True Lies
How will I go?
Song of Life
Flying
Kali Ma
Blood Moon
Eviction Notice - The Reply
Buzzards
Unwanted Advice
The Fleeting Wren
Candlemas Song
The Dead Time
Ok, so I get depressed in early December. It's something to do with the onset of Christmas, the whole commercial, exploitative, false, unsatisfying nature of how it is now celebrated. Also I'd just moved and the whole effort of moving and sorting my old house for sale was just getting on top of me. So I end up writing this. It came about from driving into Oxford one morning as the Sun rose gradually getting brighter and making it difficult to see where I was going. And, at night, it froze hard and the meadow by my house was covered by needles of frost and the full moon shone down over it, the whole scene filled with menace.
The Sun, low and rising Turns from blood-red to yellow And then to searing white. It burns my eyes, I cannot see my way, It blinds my living senses. So weak and yet so strong, Even in this dead time it can burn, Wildly stamp its mark and Unconstrained, leave havoc in its wake. The Moon, ice-cold above the meadow Beware this time, the dead time, © Angela Grant (Kestrel) 9/12/2003 |
Earth
At this time I am in the middle of Bobcat's Living Druidry course and in that course concentrating on the element of Earth. Several on the course had reported difficulties with concentrating on this element. I'd not had a problem. I have always been in good contact with Earth from the beginnings of my paganism. I wanted to express the positive aspect of Earth and this is what came. It is not comfortable but it speaks to me.
I am Malkuth, the Kingdom, The Shekinah, the Maiden, First principle of Godhead. I am Gaia, the Womb of Life; The warm darkness that Gives birth to all. Mine are the rocks, My arms enfold you; © Angela Grant (Kestrel) 17/12/2003 |
On a gold dinar of Saladin and
a silver denier of Richard, Coeur de Lion
A poem for peace...
Eastern sun, intricate and golden, Covered with strange characters That tell us if we can but read That Yusuf son of Ayyub, Salah ed-Din, struck this coin In Alexandria and declares There is no God but Allah alone And Mohammed is His Prophet. Western moon, rough and silvery, But both sail with false colours. The silver with base copper is mixed This metal remains to tell Photographs and poem |
Numismatic note: Richard did not mint any coins in his own name in England, simply continuing the coinage in the name of his father Henry II. The only coins that exist in his own name are for his possessions in France. Both coins illustrated are approximately the same size the gold dinar being 19mm in diameter and the denier 18mm.
True Lies
Be careful following Where others have gone before. In the forest once Beware truths apparent, © Angela Grant (Kestrel) 28/12/2003 |
How will I go?
What shall I do when I die? Shall I go softly into the night? Shall I howl my head off, Fiercely protesting at the injustice? Shall I agonize about what I have left behind, Unfinished and undone? I know what I would like to do. Maybe I should in blaze of glory go How will I go? © Angela Grant (Kestrel) 30/12/2003 |
Song of Life
This also was written as a result of Bobcat's Living Druidry course. On the first day of a weekend dedicated to the Element of Air, Bobcat said that everything in the world has its own Song if we are willing to stop a while, relax, and just listen. This came to me in a jumble the following morning as I was about to take a shower and, stark naked as I was, I just had to write it down before it disappeared again. So this is the only example of naked poetry on the website. :o)
I hear the Sea’s Song; The thunderous crash of breakers On a shingle beach; The soft lap, lap on a quiet day, And Sun-sucked waters Falling again as soft rain Or rattling as hail on tin or glass, And the tinkling of tiny streams Plish-ploshing under rain’s fall, And the wake of boats whooshing Along a river’s banks; I hear the Sea’s Song.
I hear the Wind’s Song; I hear the Earth’s Song; I hear the World’s Song; © Angela Grant (Kestrel) 11/1/2004 |
Flying
More on the Element of Air.
I have learned the hard way I have dreamed of falling Yet in a vision I have felt the wind There is no way I could know © Angela Grant (Kestrel) 13/1/2004 |
Kali Ma
Robert Tye, the expert on oriental numismatics, has rightly pointed out that the design of the Lakshmi staters of North India is actually a tromp d'oeil. Not only is it the figure of the beautiful Lakshmi, seated cross-legged on a lotus, but also the grinning face of Kali with her necklace of human skulls.
Dark Mother Two-faced, for should not love Ask not the final sacrifice Text and pictures |
The coin illustrated is in the name of Govinda Chandra of the dynasty of the Gahadavalas of Kanauj and Kasi. The coins were minted in his lifetime and posthumously c. 1114-1154 CE. Assays have shown that the coins contain equal quantitities of gold, the metal of the Sun and the lotus' centre, silver, the metal of the Moon and lotus petals, and copper, the metal of fire and blood.
Blood Moon
The Blood Moon Grove is a women's keening group that meets irregularly and by invitation at places where pain is in the fabric of the place to wail the easing of that pain and the pain of the members' own hearts. It is not a comfortable place and definitely not for the faint-hearted.
I feel the cold Entering my soul, Freezing the very essence Of my being. Why am I here In this icy darkness? To add my voice to The howling silence Of the woods; To join my pain To the deep and hurting Anguish of the world And maybe thus To dissipate them both. There is sweet relief In the howling of the pain In such an empty place Full of spirits. And so we gather © Angela Grant (Kestrel) 17/1/2004 |
Eviction Notice - The Reply
Have I sinned against the world By being? Have I so offended you by my existence That I must be So forcibly removed? I have been here so long. It is as if an age has passed Since I was born; Yet you remove me. Is my spirit something You object to? Just because you want to get From there to here A little faster And I am in the way. Is it so important, You never take a moment My one consolation © Angela Grant (Kestrel) 21/1/2004 |
This was written in reply to a request for poetry to be attached to trees in the way of a road development at St David's Wood in Wales.
Buzzards
I watched them this morning And me, so earthbound, Freedom is a gift © Angela Grant (Kestrel) 24/1/2004 |
Unwanted Advice
Oh, Gentle Youth, Wish not your time away By wanting to be older. The time will come Before old age comes Seek not to shorten by one hour © Angela Grant (Kestrel) 25/1/2004 |
The Fleeting Wren
There is pleasure in small things. To my window A wren came; The smallest of birds, Inches from my face. He did not flinch Yet his sunlit presence From my childhood And my wren; Text and picture |
Numismatic note: A Farthing originally was made by cutting a silver penny into four parts or 'fourthings'. Silver farthings were later minted but were last issued in the reign of Edward VI as by this time they had become too small for convenience. Copper farthings were first issued by private individuals under Letters Patent in the reign of James I but were small and unpopular, smacking of private gain rather than public good, and were discontinued under the Commonwealth. The Royal Mint began to issue copper farthings in 1672 in the reign of Charles II with Britannia as the reverse type, supposedly modelled on his mistress the Duchess of Richmond. The Wren first appeared on sets made for the Coronation of Edward VIII but as he abdicated before they could be issued the Wren first appeared for general circulation on the farthings of his brother George VI in 1937. 1956 was the last year marked on farthings manufactured by the Royal Mint.
Candlemas Song
This is something of an epic for me. I don't usually write things this long. It came about because my therapist asked me to remember a day that stuck in my mind. A time I remembered with joy. The day that came to me was the day of the Spring Equinox at Avebury in 2003. It was the first time I had been to a Gorsedd at Avebury and it had stuck in my mind as a faultless day of beauty. She suggested I kept that day in mind when I felt low, which I tend to do in winter. The following morning I woke to an iron grey frost cold day and as I lay in bed looking out my window this came to me, at first in fragments, then pouring out as I wrote.
The Ground is hard, Frost-hard And white with snow And creatures struggle To find food In this dead wilderness, Death-white and dark. But I remember The sky is dark But I remember The Sun hides But I remember Water stands hard and icy But I remember The wheel turns; © Angela Grant (Kestrel) 30/1/2004 |