White Water Dash

 

White Water Dash

Within these dark dread hills I fear
Are shadows lying deep and drear
Yet by the beck is green and bold
White Water Dash to me behold!

Cascading down the mountainside
Towards the mere where secrets hide
This hidden place of mystery
Dark shadows cast by the wind-blown tree.

The light is failing below Dead Mans Fell
And the river flows down into the darkened dell
The desolate valley stretches wide
In the mist and rain by the riverside.

So within these dark dread hills I fear
Where shadows lie, foreboding near
But by the beck 'tis green and bold
White Water Dash take me, take hold!

 

Written at the Back O' Skiddaw November 1997

Ascending Orb of Bloody Night

Ascending Orb of Bloody Night

The Ascending Orb
Of Bloody Night
Transfixes me with
Dark delight.

And Black Tiamat
Is drawing near
In her monstrous cave
We cower in fear!

And the bloodied moon
Lights our way
Into the amethyst womb
Of dark dismay

Equinox mother
Looming bright
Night-mare comforter
Of eternal night.

The crimson moon
Sails the bitter sea
With viscous veins
Slowly drowning me.

The pivotal point
Of balance nears
Magnifying all of
Our dreams and fears,

Terrifying creatures
Of the dreadful deep
Lure me into a
Fitful sleep

And the moon still
Shines on the salty sea
Beneath tentacled monsters
Unnerving me.

The nautical
Undines swimming near
The sullen song
Of the siren instilling fear,

Whilst white Gulls flap by the
Breaking surf
Their screeching cries
Abounding mirth?

The receding moon illuminates
The indigo night
Equinoctial tides rise
with magnetic might.

Invoking primordial Nammu
From the chaotic realm
From deep watery beginnings
Standing by the helm

Of the blood stained moon
Which perpetually shines
Upon the deep sinister waters
Primeval, divine!

Octave of the Autumnal Equinox 2008

Helena

Above: Elen, Lady of Nature by Paul Atlas-Saunders

Helena

Divine heavenly host
Sent from above
Beyond the veil of dreams
Helena, ghostly instiller of beauty
In this green and beautiful
Valley, whence
The quicksilver river flows -
Camel of the west
Great snaking river
Moving through the
Sacred enclosure
Of your divine intervention
Landscape Sovereign of
Ancient place
The elbowed river
Travelling towards the north
Silver-singing artery of life
Running from the misty upland moor
To Atlantic rollers crashing
Against the massive darkened
Sea-stained craggy serrated cliffs
This secret celestial valley
Sanctified, soft and peaceful
Hidden site of blissful repose
Fed by the old straight track
From other places, abodes and realms
Lady of dreams
Light up the morn with
Your ancient light
Oh Lady of sunrise
Goddess of sunset
Take us to your eternal home
The secret space from
Whence you perpetually reside
By the flowing river, where the reindeer hide
In your esoteric time-spun enclosure
At the edge of the wild gorse-tangled upland
Of the arcane sea-clad Celtic fringe!
Holy Helena, treasure seeker
Truth inspirer, love desirer
Nature's finest resurrection
Autumn leaves glow introspection
Natural spirit come to me
Eternal quester, confider, jester
Nature's soul-womb eternally,
Quietly found in this
Iconic medieval landscape
By mill and trackway
You travel by half-light
Manifesting through dreams
Where once you were queen
O'er the bridge which spans
Your waterway bright
Sylvan spirit
Light of light!
The cosmic dance of river flow
Elfin track and wind strewn rain
Find us, teach us
Take us back
From whence you came -
Our landscape lady Elen ran
Through the ancient roads where life began.
Oh Helland Goddess of the
Green-track, guardian of the antlered ones
Show us your story, your mystic ray
Spreading light and joy through the endless day!

Helland Bridge, August 2009

Dionysus

Above: Neo Oberon by Yuri Leitch

Dionysus

Masked and robed with vegetation
In a clearing he stands
Inspiring poet-prophets and madmen
From far-distant lands.

Deep in the forest
By the vineyard clearing,
Dancing in ecstasy
Temperature searing.

Naked at the temple
One upon one,
Metamorphosis:
Entwined eternal!

Tumultuous God Dionysus -
Revealer of dreams,
Within his theatre
All is not what it seems.