The Purpose

All of evolution, all of history
all of life, all the life forms
all the gills, the feathers, the hair, leaves
all the fins, flippers, hooves, hands
all of the spectrum, all colors
lead to this

To sing, to dance, to shout sweet words
to the Sun, the Moon, the Earth

Jehanah

The Wake

   She showed up at the wake

    right at the last, my schizzy friend

   after the ceremony and remembrances

   much as if she were slumming

   the art gallery shows and openings

   dressed to the chic nines

   Writing three pages in the guestlist book

   sampling the food

   drinking some wine or beer

   gabbing with friends

   rearranging the flowers on the altar

   around the humble urn of ashes

   and the small cross placed there

   by the grandson of the deceased

   as a special favor to the family

   Did she know the deceased?

   Oh yeah!  For years.  No question.

   lots of love between them.

   Even then, all that time,

   she was always a lush and a moocher.

   That's why I liked her.

   Jehanah

Remembering Steve Mackin

          Steve was a good friend, I am really going to miss him.

THE HOST OF THE AIR

by: William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

'DRISCOLL drove with a song

The wild duck and the drake

From the tall and the tufted reeds

Of the drear Hart Lake.

 

And he saw how the reeds grew dark

At the coming of night-tide,

And dreamed of the long dim hair

Of Bridget his bride.

 

He heard while he sang and dreamed

A piper piping away,

And never was piping so sad,

And never was piping so gay.

 

And he saw young men and young girls

Who danced on a level place,

And Bridget his bride among them,

With a sad and a gay face.

 

The dancers crowded about him

And many a sweet thing said,

And a young man brought him red wine

And a young girl white bread.

 

But Bridget drew him by the sleeve

Away from the merry bands,

To old men playing at cards

With a twinkling of ancient hands.

 

The bread and the wine had a doom,

For these were the host of the air;

He sat and played in a dream

Of her long dim hair.

 

He played with the merry old men

And thought not of evil chance,

Until one bore Bridget his bride

Away from the merry dance.

 

He bore her away in his arms,

The handsomest young man there,

And his neck and his breast and his arms

Were drowned in her long dim hair.

 

O'Driscoll scattered the cards

And out of his dream awoke:

Old men and young men and young girls

Were gone like a drifting smoke;

 

But he heard high up in the air

A piper piping away,

And never was piping so sad,

And never was piping so gay.

Poetry Reading

You Are My Flower

Samhuinn

this is an excerpt from a short film that will be screened at 
Sacred Grounds on November 28, 2012

Cernunnos

Cernunnos, guardian stag.
Lord and protector of beasts,
God of the hunt, and of shepherds.
You have been repressed.

Flanked by the fox, trickster and lightning spirit;
By the otter, for play and transformation;
By the boar, for overcoming fear and forceful resistance;
By the frog, for impulsiveness, fertility, and creativity.

You hold in one hand the serpent of understanding,
Of knowledge, and understanding.
You hold in the other hand
A golden torque, for the sovereignty of the land.

The land is stunted, burned, drowned, and made toxic...
The leaders corrupt and perverse,
Wasting our resources without replenishment.
Return to your consort, Mother Earth.

Horned God, protector of beasts...
Bring balance and integrity.
Purify the Sovereignty.
Like a geode split in two,
Yearning to bond again,
Fit yourself into relation with Mother Earth,
Grow back into integrity.

God of huntsmen and shepherds revive.
Bring back a true relationship with the land.
Answer the shaman's prayers,
And transform the chiefs.
The earth pines for you.
We await your return.

- Jehanah -
(a poem for Autumn Equinox)