COMMUNION

Midnight lays her hand upon

Nature's cold brow;

earth and firmament embrace.

I hold the stars and prayers of

generations in heart and hands, 

as aeons surround me.

Autumn dies, enfolded by Light;

Seasons stretch into years,

days into nights,

threads of silver and gold reaching

into the Womb that

birthed all souls. I am You, and

You are I, my departed forbears, 

planting thoughts and

words that I may harvest,

that you may live again and breathe

this Life.

Memories circle the sacred fire,

a fire that never truly ceased

burning, a forever fire amid forever

drumming and chanting,

my kin beyond its old gold light.

Spirit whispers fan the

flames of hope, renew my resolve

by the blaze's ashes.

Its warmth lingers upon the hilltop

and I sense Life within the dust,

for this vision of communion,

of eternal wholeness, 

is Samhain's blessing.

© 2015 Lily's Verse

Lilium Candidum

Image source: www.pinterest.com

SAMHAIN APPROACHES

A heavier, happier air laden with
foregone smiles and tears
shelters the dry ground this morn; 
the pale grass gleams
beneath a shimmering warmth
that fearless ventures into
late Autumn's realm, defies frosty
skies, settling upon stacks
and bales of earth-stained gold.

A wisp of a whisper rustles Nature's
tawny cloak, flutes the
liquid lute, companion of day's toil
and eventide's respite.
Silver notes strike the thinning Veil,
chiming through echoes of
yesterday's laughter, of a childish lilt
sailing over the lilac hill, these
fragments from the Great Beyond.

A tendril of a touch, not of this world,
brushes my shoulders,
easing my burden, guiding labours
by day and quill by night.
Questions flow easier this Season,
for souls that attend them
wander ever nearer. My forbears of
birth, creed and spirit,
I await your wisdom and counsel.

© 2015 Lily's Verse

Lilium Candidum

Image source: www.imgkid.com

Artist: Jules Breton

MOTHER SPEAKS

Midnight's hands shall raise the Veil,

as ritual chants the New Year hail;

I shall bide with you, daughter, through Samhain night,

by the red-gold fire's bewitching light.

I shall partake of festive feasts and wine,

my beloved's hand shall rest once more by mine,

as we renew olden bonds with kindred souls,

rejoice, though unseasonable Death be our dole.

I shall ramble with you upon November's first day

across meads where Autumn's last leaves play 

beneath skies enwrapped in frost-kissed dreams, 

by streams reflecting timeless themes. 

My spirit shall rove over seeded fields,

as the fading day to twilight yields,

for there as a bairn I laughed and cried,

as maid, wife and mother much golden grain scythed.

The Goddess grant I hear bygone strains

of Harvest's gay melodies and mirthful refrains.

I would retrace my steps in the circle dance,

beneath night's silver, hiemal trance.

Time's wave shall sign the Veil's descent,

as I give thanks for the joyful day spent

amid kinfolk's love, prayer and sacred trust,

I shall return each Samhain, child, as I must.

© 2015 Lily's Verse

Lilium Candidum

Image: LA LECTURE (edited)

Source: www.artrenewal.org 

Artist: Leon-Augustin L'hermitte  

HERALD

You glow as a protostar,

as the Lantern of

my childhood dreams.

Are you an Angel, 

an insight, a revelation,

a word I know not

that I seek?

Truly, you are a paragon 

of your lineage,

for you radiate the beauty

of First Light, 

of the dawn of Days,

noble, subtle, 

measureless power in its

ineffable softness.

Perhaps you are Truth's

own emissary in a

lesser guise for unworthy

eyes, bearing fragments

of the cosmic puzzle,

your intent proximity and

distant orbit Her

confounding contrivance.

Could you be my template

reality, removed from

Life's trompe l'oeil, 

its cruel chronostasis?

I perceive the tug of your 

golden thread

bound in a treaty of Light

to my within-ness.

Your aura ripples in white

silences, your vastness

fused to the 

confluence of my mind,

body and spirit,

resolute in its purpose 

to reunite the soul's

scattered memories,

to affirm its return to Life.

© 2015 Lily's Verse

Lilium Candidum

Image: AWAKENING 
Source: www.pinterest.com
Artist: Michael Parks

FATE

The soul has no need of your orrery,

as it trundles through Infinity.

No soothsayer need I, nor ancient, 

arcane tablets, nor your

capricious clay gods' fragile devices. 

Crystal balls and sortilege could not

divine my earthly course,

nor unveil Fate's shape and source,

nor spae cosmic decree

to prehensile mortal eye and mind.

A mere speck could not fathom great

Providence, nor augur and 

assign redeeming ordinance. I would

seek Her design in Nature's

emblems, in the Seasons' sacred circle.

Seers of antiquity told of Destiny's leaf,

each vein, node and space

vivid, yet brief; each path leading to

luminous bourns, thence to

merge into silent repose and renewal.

Of immanent harmony in all they spoke, 

of a Light that every spirit woke,

of glad accord betwixt preordination and

will, of the soul's yearning  

to become the sacred music of the stars.

© 2015 Lily's Verse

Lilium Candidum

Image: THE CRYSTAL BALL

Source: commons.wikimedia.org

Artist: John William Waterhouse

LATE ROSE

No ingenue is she, nor soubrette,

not April's unversed muse,

nor the Princess of June's gardens.

It is the Queen who blossoms

this golden October day amid Her

majestic, russet decay.

The monarch deferred her bloom

to the sage Season of

melting light and molten shadows,

for her lushly petalled 

adornments she intended not for 

Spring and Summer alone;

her tenderer Gold and cooler blush

she lends unto Autumn.

Her cheek she dusts with pearly fire,

upon her brow lavishes 

cupfuls of mellow aurescent shine

alchemised from blazing

bows and balmy bolts in the boreal

bitterness of a storm heralding

September's end.

"All beauty does not blossom in the

wide glare of June's Sun.

My late flower was born of silent awe,

from riper mists and hidden dew.

My spirit contemplated Creation's

sterner aspect, the Elements' wildness 

yielding to tranquil repose.

I am Nature's parting glance, as she

retreats into Earth's undercroft."

© 2015 Lily's Verse

Lilium Candidum

Image source: www.organicgardendreams.com

ASCENSION

All of yesterday, she danced her
yellow-green dance,
defiantly painting the drowsy air
with Summer's palette.
I rejoiced in her wilfulness, in her
lambent charade, as player
and witness, for she seemed to
wield sunbeams.
Verily she was a little Sun, radiant,
radiating June's warmth
and glow through Autumn's
patinated prism.

At October's feet, she now lies, an
island of dying beauty,
too fragile grown to hold her own
splendour, fluttering,
slowing, scattering her iridescent
memories into the cold,
translucent glow of violet daisies, 
the entr'acte commenced 
with equanimity and art, peridot 
wings arcing towards
the seeded ground in graceful
concession to Destiny.

She ascends into a higher, greater
flight, living colours
surrendered, released from earthly
chrysalises dark and bright,
her rainbow path furled in my soul
amid a swaying, sparkling
sisterhood of marigolds and irises,
of a loveliness too brief....
I do not mourn, for the Great Wheel
turns; I, Autumn's child,
shall await, if Life so choose, further
rejoicing with Her butterflies.

© 2015 Lily's Verse

Lilium Candidum

Image source: www,cumbria-butterflies.org.uk