Owl hoots three times in the far woods,
fair warning for all small creatures
scurrying to their burrows.
Are we not still and always
those crouching figures
who flee the heavenly alchemy?
Three times in the crackling air,
Owl hoots for us.
*
Wind plays the drums of snow...
staccato taps,
crescendo off the roofs,
flourish of shuddering branches.
Ice snaps its castanets,
its daggers.
Atonal music of the darkest days
needs the most fearless,
subtle listeners.
*
Those strumming flamenco
fingers of sunlight
are a long time away from now.
Now we go comforted
in dreams and ceremonies,
flaming our star-speck candles,
raising our voices against that other music,
drowning out the forever
at night’s heart.
*
Look up! The wheel is turning.
The spectacular crowd of stars,
the tangle of dimensions
jostle for our attention.
Salute the birth of everything holy.
Dolores Stewart (Riccio)
At Yule, we celebrate the triumphant return of old Helios, the ascendance of light in the fertile darkness of winter. This morning's poem was written by the late Dolores Stewart (Riccio) and published in her exquisite Doors to the Universe. It is posted here with her kind permission. She was my friend.
2 comments:
Thank you! I realized reading poetry means slowing down and reading each word, maybe each line twice, to capture the meaning, the tone. It changes my reading pattern entirely. A very good thing!
I so enjoy reading the poems of Dolores Stewart when you share them. Then I go searching for a copy of her book, but so far no luck. So I hope you will continue to share more of her work.
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