Lucifer Bridge Poetry Blog

The Secret of Moss Force

2012-02-14T09:14:00.021Z

The Secret of Moss Force

Limitless, we float through the wide deep valley,
Seemingly partaking of the dream of all dreams
Effortlessly we soar as high as the fell tops
Gliding, exhilarating,
Seeking an entrance, a portal to something
As yet unknown but instinctive.

We hear a sound, like a song or tune
Familiar but unheard before
Like distant bells chiming
A soft drumbeat or
The bard with his harp, playing
To the ethereal, eternal.

Seeking the distant sound
We come closer to the valley floor
Ancient walls enclose the land and
Animals graze the lush emerald carpet content
With their interconnectedness
Continuity and history.

Where is the bard?
That harp played so softly
Like a waterfall in summer, the music
Running gently to our ears.
The instinctive sound is getting louder
The gateway is near.

Becoming the music, we enter the river
Moss Force has called us, and we
Yearn to be here.
Like a mirror or gateway
A song of the summer
A link between our world and the world of our peers.

Voices are heard beyond the fast running water
How can that be, surely no one's there?
A divine realisation, benediction awakens
We see through the water, like a crack in a mirror
The land of the living,
Who quizically stare.

On the side of the mountain
A manifest secret is
Making its mark on the world anew
Arcane ghostly secrets
Reveal to the living the
Legendary land of the departed.

The water is flowing
Down the dark banks of the hillside
Ghostly glimpses and shadows emerge from the ghyll
Fantastic folklore and old shepherd stories
Tell of an invisible way through the falls, through the fell, and
The Force briefly fortells her secret.

February 2012

Joan the Wad

2011-11-12T10:53:00.008Z

"Good fortune will nod, if you carry upon you Joan the Wad"

Joan the Wad

Deep within the shadows cast by the
Light of the billowing harvest moon
A green wispy flame
Is dancing along the ancient silvery
Illuminated secret pathways
That border the misty granite moor.

The green flame-like torch
A Faery incandescent glow that
Guides us ‘cross the
Peaty bog, through rushes green
Shimmering in the crisp
Gwynngala moonlight
The invisible Queen
Liminal Joan, dances
Through the weave of time.

Veiled in sylvan silver light
Her torch illuminating
The landscape of dreams
Where fantasies manifest
And all seems topsy-turvy
In the moonlight, on the moor.

Hand maiden of Nature
Moonlit messenger
Torch-lit track ways, lined and guarded
By her Fae-folk, just a foot-fall away
Glistening, shimmering, glittering
Dancing by the snaking singing river
The flickering light of her torch
Safely guiding us through the
Eternal and ceaseless dream.

The Song of Bucka

2011-09-21T20:41:00.015+01:00

The Song of Bucka

Sometimes carried on the wind,
From shores along the exciting stimulating
Craggy rugged and remote
Undulating snaking cliff tops
Purple brown and golden -
Partially framing
The wild Celtic ocean, where
Sea birds cry, gliding, swooping, diving
Murmuring the song of an archaic discernment
Muted yet melodic; lyrical and unusual
Oft unheard but caught,
As if unbidden by the seekers
Of the wisdom of the land and sea
Where Seals huddle, residing in caves
Dark and hidden by briny tide and cleft shadow
Espied only from above.

Snaking serpents and
Scaly dragons lazily basking
Populate their hermetic lairs
Awaiting a familiar song
The Song of Bucka,
Which strangely and languidly
Occupies our ears
Lilting, vibrating
The uncanny tune
Reminding us
Of sirens and mermen
Ethereal tenants of the inner realms
The hidden world of nature
Beyond, just beyond our sphere
Where dreams compose the
Choral notes of the secretive song -
Their tune wistfully decrying
Twisted histories,
Hidden,
Removed, unreal
Like the gales that blow
Through the graggy darkened outcrops,
Open ended sea caves, blowholes and
Narrow twisted harbours,
The illusive whispered
Song of Bucka
Reveals a cultural tune
An ancestral anthem
Weaving past to present
War to peace
Bringing some clarity of vision.


...after a vision at Buckator, Autumn 2011

Buckator

2011-03-01T09:41:00.006Z

Image: King of Wands from the Greenwood Tarot by Chesca Potter.

Buckator

Oh Great Divine Spirit of land and sea
Feel the hum of the earth and follow me
Through the deepest glen and darkest cave
The highest cliff and the biggest wave!

Androgynous One of the portal deep
Who visits me during restful sleep
Whirling swirling energy dances spiralling round
From the turning tides below this sacred ground.

Buckator clifftop ancient land
Fire through the blood though once you were banned
Serpentine power coursing through the earth below
Visionary scenes to us you may show -

Revealing the hidden, arcane and the strange
The cosmic inspirer may send us deranged
Flowing through rivers, over land and through sea
Oh Fair Buckator's secret proclaim unto me!

This place of misrule twixt dark hills and the sea
Where elemental creatures may hold the key
To the mystic light from the sun beyond dreams
Where again we find all is not as it seems!

Oh Great Horned Bucka rides the wind and the waves
Amongst the shadowy realm where we tread the maze
Our intangible guide on the crooked path
Whose entrance maybe found in the fiery hearth.

Released in Hoofprints in the Wildwood 04/04/11

Buckator (spoken)

Tredethy (for Paul)

2010-12-24T23:20:00.002Z

Tredethy (for Paul)

The beauty of each season
Crown the hills with inner light
Unpolluted skies allow a front seat view
Of the universe at night.

Arched o'er the river valley
From whence Holy Helena came
The half-moon beams through the mystic trees
Grey slate and granite glisten in the rain.

Whispered ghostly secrets
Gently intrude our peaceful nights
Echoes 'twixt soft rounded hills
By the crooked river, silver bright.

The archaic song of Bucka
Down the Georgian chimneys sing
Brings snow and frosty winter's chill
Precedes the warmer climes of Spring

Burst forth anew with pulsing life
Upon our ancient Cornish brea
Tansys Golowan burns warm and clear
A feiry beacon for the fae-folks play.

Our copious tasty harvest
Nature's larder bulges tight
Libations to the chambered earthen mound
Whilst the spectral Barn Owl hunts at night.

Lines of power flow through the land
Beaming energy light and dark
Pulsing, racing, guizing, swirling,
From the love of my beating heart!

Montol 2010.

Samhain Prose

2010-11-07T10:02:00.006Z

Samhain Prose

Crows crowing, flapping somewhere overhead. The wind cries the ghostly song of the departed. We stand alone in this dark, yet welcoming place. It is cold, and dusk is laying her blanket over the rolling landscape of sweeping, undulating hills. The naked twisted trees dance in the half-light of a cold autumnal evening, and vicious clouds scud across a menacing sky.

Old ossifying bones lie hidden here. The bone-yard of the ancient ones lie sleeping in this valley, and the ancient mortuary house holds the key to this place. Half buried under four thousand years of mud and stone. Whispers, half forgotten whispers from the dimming memory of yesteryear.

Whispers fade in and out, blending, melding 'twixt the winds playful movement 'neath the trees. We can almost taste the past here! Fleeting and unknowable, but tangible and contradictory. All of this and more. Scattered shards of invisible bone. Ghostly hair, tooth and nail hide here amongst the invisible remains of last years decay. New life sprouts, mushrooming fungus and multi-coloured lichen have successfully colonised this enclosure.

This space, this sacred area of the deceased; the departed ones who haunt another realm, an inaccessible realm of half-fulfilled dreams and visions of poets and painters from across the ages. Ancient prehistoric lines of power converge here. The shining pathways of the ancestors, corpse roads and coffin paths where we may walk with the dead.

It is dark now, and the Yew tree observes all from the darkest corner of this enchanted world. This is the ancient, wise and cunning you! Tree of departed souls, tree of renewal, guardian tree of graves. The old twisted branches rustling and creaking in the ghostly vale of dreams.

Buckator (Spoken)

2010-10-24T13:08:00.012+01:00

Buckator, a poem written as an invocation to the Divine Androgynous Horned Deity of the West Country - known as Bucca in West Cornwall, Bucka in North-East Cornwall and Buckie in Devon. Buckator is a dramatic sea-cliff which lies north of Boscastle. A place of raw elemental power and ancient wisdom, where our native serpent the adder can be seen if you are lucky.

Image: King of Wands from the Greenwood Tarot by Chesca Potter.

Conjuration!

2010-10-23T16:17:00.010+01:00

Conjuration!

Conjure conjure
Tap tap tap
Star-light streaks across
A darkened sky!

Conjure conjure
Crack crack crack
Serpent energy rumbles beneath
The living earth!

Conjure conjure
Knock knock knock
Portal opens beneath the
Gateway zone!

Conjure conjure
Snap snap snap
Dragon's mouth cavern
Exudes a strange souvenir!

Conjure conjure
Roar roar roar
Oceans rolling surf crashes
Into the open door!

Conjure conjure
Hiss hiss hiss
Serpentine energy
Blends and twists!

Blood Moon 2010

The Ghost Ship of Porthcurno

2010-09-04T17:34:00.005+01:00

The Ghost Ship of Porthcurno

Along the lines of antiquated communication
Within a stones throw of the
Ancient Logan Rock
Traditional place of initiations of
The ancient folk of fey
Pristine golden sand, glows in the sunlight
Illuminating the cove,
Softly sharing the space with
The sparkling crystalline granitic cliffs
Worn smooth by the insatiable tides and
Swelling waters of the alluring
Mesmerising Atlantic!
This soft contagious place!
Backdrop scenery of a million pictures
Of family holidays and
Romantic canoodling couples
Honeymooning together in the warm
Cornish sun!
The bay of white sand caressing the toes of
Pilgrims and travellers and seekers of history
And mystery of the old
Hermitage and secret spring
Issuing from the clifftops from the secret abode
Of sages, priests and shamans of a golden past?

But as sunset approaches
A different mystery unfolds!
On certain nights, when the white shining moon
Peeks through scudding black billowing clouds
Sailing across the menacing
Dismal starry sky with
The feeling of a thousand
Demons watching from above
This cove is transformed,
The stage is set for another tall tale
That will terrify and astonish one and all...
For darkness has fallen, and the grey bell is tolling
The bell of the Goblin is ringing at sea
The Goblin is coming, from the deepest dark ocean
As we observe from the shadowy tortuous
Covert corners of the
Moon-bathed village streets, with
Terrifying anticipation.
Ding, ding, ding
Tolls the bell,
Reverberating, advancing across the bay
The moon shining full lighting her way
Creaking and a groaning,
She sails closer for inspection
By the invisible deck-hands and the
Demonic admiralty!
The dismal smell of decay rises above the sand.

Then at once,
She mysteriously appears
A fine ancient ghost-ship,
Close to the beach
Billowing ghostly fog abounds
Swirling and dancing
With dark ragged flags fluttering
On the deathly night air
Torn sails flapping with the
Creak and groan of deaths inevitable grasp
The Dark Ship is with us
As she sails above the sand
Towards the village,
Crashing through unseen waters,
Seeking all who wish to hide
From this deliciously devilish scene!
Searching, hunting those souls
Whom she has left behind.

The Blessing Moon

2010-07-27T11:49:00.013+01:00

The Blessing Moon

Full moon mysterious misty monday
On the cusp of the mighty moor
Energy beings are called up dancing,
Tides moving against the
Saturated saline shore.
Sirius starlight upon the inner realms
The Cosmic Inspirer seeps and creeps
Into my consciousness
Celestial music fills my inner ear -
Isis is calling, Isis calls,
Singing, singing -
The waves of the surging sea
Seem to call to me,
Call me to explore a
Dreamy moonlit dream.

Farewell Fenland!

2010-07-04T14:47:00.009+01:00

Farewell Fenland!

Farewell dark brooding fenland
With your family tomb amid poplars green
Your octagonal lantern bright, shining through
The mystical black-fen night.

Farewell to my flat-land-zone
Where ghosts traverse
Through the misty peaty levels
Across vast canals and open reedy rivers.

Tintagel Haven

2010-05-16T11:42:00.026+01:00

Photo: Inside Merlin's Cave by Jo Withers

Tintagel Haven

The acrid saline sploosh of incoming waves
Sweep over the inky slate darkened bulwark
Of the misty headland.
Frothy white moorland water
Cascades into this rounded cove
Running across dark-grey sand and black sea-pebbles
Concocting
Hydro-alchemical vapours
Which entice and weave their spell -
Inhaling, we discover
A winding twisting path
Into the gigantic cavernous watery lair
Of magic and deception
Where echoes sing
From the distant shores of
Other spheres
And alternative spaces
This spectral cave of Gothic delight
Which turns the bright warm day
Into a cool damp night.
Serpent energy flows through
This space, an eternally
Reconnecting glyph
Spiral dancing gesticulating
With no end or beginning
Beneath the plateaux island of
Archaic kings
Saints and ghostly legends.

Photo: Merlin's Cave by Jo Withers

Tintagel Haven also published in Poetry Cornwall: thirty (Bardhonyeth Kernow: oeg warn ugens)

Buckator

2010-04-20T21:05:00.027+01:00

Spring Equinox Poetic Meditation

2010-03-21T20:01:00.004Z

Above: The "tinners rabbits" an ancient springtime fertility symbol
depicting three Hares often found in West Country churches.

Spring Equinox Poetic Meditation

As the light finally
Catches its twin faced dark
A brief truce is called
As the balance of opposites
Merge and entwine.

As new life emerges
From the cold dark earth
And the egg of creativity
Breaks at the crack of dawn
The leaping hare dance.

As the rain and wind swirls
Around the budding branches
The sunset approaches, and equinoctial
Balance allows the suns rays
To burst through the bank of grey cloud.

The illuminating rays of the equinox sun
Allow the daffodils to glow
As they dance in the whirling wind
Joyfully they nod to the descending fiery orb
Beyond the solitary ancient Oak.

The Mermaid of Doom Bar

2010-03-17T17:41:00.024Z

The Mermaid of Doom Bar

The rocks of Rock cry
Impregnated with the wayward souls
Of seafarers broken at the last.

The Mermaid of Doom
Sings her salty song of death
As she reclines by the Padstow shore.

She sits on her briney throne
Upon Doom Bar's rocky drift
By the curse of her own demise.

After the luminous winter sunset
Ghosts of sailors and a mermaid
Haunt the towering towans and scabrous slaty cliffs.

Face the rock face!
Souls carved in anguish cry
To the dulcet dunes of doom.

Through the Void of Imagined Dreams

2010-02-26T22:03:00.024Z

Through the Void of Imagined Dreams

Within the darkest peaceful night
Amidst the void of imagined dreams
Many and varied ghosts, dormant within
Twilight vague half memories and
Distant recollection
Abdicating, liberating reminders
Both loved and cherished
Awkward and anguised
Meaningful and at times mystifying
Ever present in the
Portals of our latent subconcious
Hermetic inner space
Full of pathways toward past and future
Time and space
Infinity.

Through the void
Of our imagined dreams
We journey to otherworlds
Where all is strangely familiar
Yet we are unnacustomed
In this unknown and
Unversed animation
Of our deepest desires
Supressed and occluded
From our daily chores
Yet tangible at twilight
Or at the dawn of each new day
Before the sun has risen
Where the ethereal atramentous Lady
Shows us our True Will.

Imbolc Prayer

2010-01-31T10:12:00.007Z

Imbolc Prayer

As the snowdrops rise from the frozen earth
And the snow falls from the steely leaden sky
The waxing sun rises o'er the eastern snowy hills
Casting light onto a new day.
As we sit by the warming hearth
Contemplating the ancient fires of Brigit
The rising sun and the sacred flame become as one
And the Fiery Goddess of the dawn
Reaches out and touches each of us
Warming, loving, healing,
Her solar rays reaching out
Spreading across the earth
Seeking all who need the ancient
Sanctity of Her healing rays from
Deep within Her ancient well and
The sacred oak ringed spring by the eternal flame
Which lights the way to
The earth's stirring womb of creation.
Be at our side Brigit
Guide us and show us your holy light and
Lead us to your sacred sanctuary
Where we can safely and quietly contemplate
Life's strangely weaving mysteries.

Blencathra

2010-01-09T09:39:00.007Z

Blencathra

Within the realm
Of lofty mountains
In the highlands of
England's  romantic north
Sits the seat of kings
And deities
Soaring high above
The valleys, tarns and stones.
Linked by astronomy and
Topography to standing stones
And circular temples
The altar of gods
The seat of angels
The throne of the setting sun
The heart of the northern fells
This mountain range compressed -
Oh Blencathra!
My restful hilltop chair
Stoney cushion of the elder race
Gateway holy mountain
Hidden dimensions
To land and sky.
Abode of the fae
Amid the clouds and vapours
Of the lakeland scene
Gesturing, attracting, summoning,
The faithful attention
Of the passing travellers
Shepherds and ghostly miners
The heart of the scene
The end of  the secretive journey.

The Revelation of Cernunnos

2010-01-07T22:07:00.016Z

The Revelation of Cernunnos

He stands in the clearing
Standing proud
The Great God Cometh
Erectly endowed.

His great horns arise
As he looks at me
Black eyes piercing
With lustful glee.

Muscular muskiness
Penetrates round
Beneath the burning stars
Brilliant, dazzling, profound.

Arise Oh Lord
Come unto thee
In the greenwood forest
Aside the hard gnarled Oak tree.

Where ancient rites
Once performed so sensual
The Stag-God Priests
Invoking Pan-sexual.

His primeval cry
Echoes throughout the night
He has left me feeling
Full of earthly delight.

Stag-God of the Wild Wood
Come into me
My benediction within
Your secret sanctuary.

2010

2010-01-01T18:28:00.021Z

2010

The full moon hangs low and large
Shining, lustrous through the bare winter branches
Late December's
Blue moon of destiny lingers
Causing much stirring from deep within
The voluminous saturated white dazzling orb
The dark silhouetted serpentine woodland limbs
Starkly still against the cool January night
Frosty underfoot penetrating
The land, frozen and hawkish
The glistening icy moonlight
Cool and clear amid the
Arcane rolling hills and
The flowing, brash torrent of the
Misty secretive river
Far below in the cleft of the steep valley.
Snow falls
Quickly and easily carpeting white
Creating a beautifully eerie moonscape,
As the clouds clear to reveal
The face of Isis
Her light dazzling as it reflects
On the sparkling diamond-like
White icy snow
The mood is still, cold and calm
We prophesise, meditate and contemplate
Amid the glowing lunar snow scape
Beneath the twinkling stars
Opulent, shining, burning
Within the bewildering remoteness of the
Spectacular remarkable Universe

Dionysus

2009-12-07T06:38:00.001Z

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.

Wren

2009-11-28T18:40:00.008Z

Above: Even the very small can

make a diference by Jim Kirkwood

Wren

Stealthily he enters the arena
Setting the scene
Against winter’s
Cold Banshee roar
He sings the sweetest bardic-song.

Tail flicking
He sees you
For a moment in time
You silently communicate
Before he flits away to hide!

The Drui-en secret
He calls out your name
A hidden communion
In Nature
Our special coded refrain.

(Written for Paul, 26th November 2009)

Zennor Quoit

2009-11-07T16:17:00.015Z

Zennor Quoit

Between craggy hilltop

And Holy Carn
Amongst scrubby gorse
In the midst of steep rolling
Tawny moorland hills
Edged by the vast turmoil
Of the wide stormy Atlantic;
Moor and Sea
Wind and tide
Megalith and horizontal rain
Sky and earth sing a
Desolate solitary Allantide tune
From heart of the
Ancestral abode
Deviating through misty movement
Of swirling dancing ghosts
Reaching across the
Invisible spectral gate
Holding, presenting, gesticulating
Through the heart of matter
The hidden splendid realm
Whence we return.


This poem was also published in Poetry Cornwall 28

The Anglo-Celtic Chapel

2009-08-26T20:57:00.025+01:00

Photo reproduced with kind permission of Andrea Abbott

The Anglo-Celtic Chapel 

Astonishing, stunning, sublime!
Such an unexpected sepulchre
Like a standing sentinel
An east coast bulwark
An ecumenical shrine
Attesting, arresting with
Haunting eerie stillness
Peacefulnes and sanctuary -
Fourteen hundred years ago
From an east coast sister sanctum
By the shore of Oswald's reign
Cedd founded this space by the
Salt-marsh wetland estuary snaking
Towards the grey steely eastern North Sea.
This unique ancient
Cathedral of Anglo-Celtic hermits
Built from the rubble of the
Long expired empire of Rome
Upon this ancient Trinovantian shoreline
Where the ghosts of mariners and
Their sea-going barges
Presenting billowing russet-red sails
Slowly and gracefully moving along
The wise old Blackwater
Blemish the far reaching horizon
Staining and punctuating
Reflecting the setting sun and
The warm glow of the tiled roof.
The liturgy of Lindisfarne
Whence sages, priests and pilgrims
Sailed into this secretive creek-side dwelling
Their prayers
Dance and play along with the spacious
Movement of time
Shifting, hastening, expediting as
Easily as the silty
Salty tidal powerful muddy heaving sea!

In the Fen Country by Vaughan Williams

2009-08-23T21:47:00.019+01:00

Sutton sunset, Isle of Ely

I have always envisaged that my poem In the Fen Country, should be read accompanied by the tone poem of the same name composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1904. This sublime symphonic impression completely and perfectly encapsulates the strange beauty of the East Anglian Fens. Something I have tried to capture in words. Enjoy!

In the Fen Country

by Alex Langstone

White Owl hovers over the plain
Darkening skies above
Cool crisp snow, carpeting the evening landscape
As Fenland closes in around
With a wild surety
That only a hunting bird of
Nocturnal skies can only really know.
Dusken spirit of this land within
A land, shimmering ghost
Gliding softly till his quarry sought
With life defying talons clenched
Then away and all is quiet and still
Once more within this
Vast languishing ocean
Reclaimed prairie region.
I monitor a treeless skyline
Which lures me towards a mire of reeds
And rushes; glowering, towering
High above this lowland clearing.
Loamy shifting earthen sanctuary
Lead me to your mysterious majestic isle
Where Gothic splendour soars
And sacred music wafts on
Soft night air.
Tiny entrancing city of revelation
Sited between a darkened dome of
Jewelled and sparkling
Constellations -
Far, far older than time itself;
I listen to my dreams
In the Fen country
Where ancient Mercian and
Anglian romantic borders meet.
Silver dart-like rivers
Cris-cross divide and cut
Through this intriguing
Fen scape dream time zone,
Surreal with its gentle
Subtle beauty which creeps and sidles
Up to me alarming yet soothing
In its brooding magnificence:
A different land for me
To grit my teeth and
Stride out, exploring,
Expanding across the
Agricultural pastoral growing
Lands for larders bulging protrusions
Rustic among farm hands
Roughly hewn with work
Toiling and tilling
Their sweet surroundings
Their soft dark and peaty earth
Featureless and mountain less
It may be; but cloud-streaked blue
Wide open skies
Stretch out far and away
Resplendent with a difference
Only truly found
In this flat-land place.

Helena

2009-08-16T21:07:00.014+01:00

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

Golitha

2009-07-24T12:53:00.026+01:00

Golitha

Here at this ravishingly spectacular
Emerald-green ravine
Where the Fowey tumbles
Noisily toward the
Pungent saliferous sea
Hoary Oak and Beech
Cling to the vertical
Ghost-ridden glen
Where glimpses of Doniert
And the Old Man of the Woods
Can be seen on moonlit nights
Floating between tree and river.
In this illustrious ancient place
This entrancing singing waterfall
Bubbling, frothy, foamy
White water
Cascading, boiling and exuberant
Bewitching all that commune
With the arcane spirits
In their tumbling abodes
Beneath the gigantic boulders
Worn smooth over infinity
By gravities chaotic commotion,
Fed by the granite permeable
Retentive peaty highland moor
It's spongy mossy surface
Dotted with piercing ancient
Upstanding stony needles
Cavorting, linked together
In subtle supernatural
Telepathic communion.

Solstice

2009-06-22T12:04:00.015+01:00

Solstice

Dancing entwined across the summer sky
Dragons dart flying, flying by!
Undine serpent unfurls and awaits
In the Herby undergrowth lays the energy bait.

Rearing monsters from a slumbering sleep
Rise up and shine from the darkening deep
Solstice sun through the dappled leaves
Serpent pulses, glistens then takes his leave.

Dragons fused in the summer sky
Above the ancient oak, we hear their ancient cry
Mid-summer passions waft and wend
Through the rippling shade to the shining end!

Secretive journeys through the slumbering hills
Entwining colliding taking their fill
Summer energy pulses, pulses round
To where it is needed and there can be found.

Sen Kleder

2009-06-17T07:06:00.004+01:00

Sen Kleder

Down along the vale of yonder Inney
A holy enclosure lies hidden
Lan Sen Kleder
Where Brychan's son constructed
His sanctuary amid
The wild rocky outcrops
And glistening rivulets
Trickling down into the
Shining Inney.
The water chapel of the valley
Exudes it's dark-age secrets
From the flowing waters
Beneath the sacred altar fine!
Reliquaries awash
Add potency for pilgrims
As they drink in the divine
Across centuries
Living history,
A thin place
This sacred divine space
Peaceful and serene
Inspiring the traveller
Creating original blessing
Broadcasting across time
Like a holy benediction
Emblazoned in our hearts.

Crepuscular

2009-05-18T20:57:00.036+01:00

Crepuscular

Crepuscular
Light fades
Through the russet boughs and
Deep green leaves
Of the ancient
Proudly smooth and strong
Gateway Beech trees.
Diminishing light
Pastures sigh, relaxing
Welcoming  the song of night
Dusken delight.
The hidden realm
Glimpses I have known
Gleaned through
Past enchantments.
Time and space
Back and forth,
Forth and backwards,
Moving at the perimeter of all
Known and unknown things.
The owlet screeches
Her dinner-bell deathly cry -
Sacred time collapsing into
The past and the future
Of eternal now.
Ancestors
Descendants
Forever engaged by an
Eternal crepuscular hour
Song of songs
Heart of hearts in a
Melding twisted forest shore
A swirling mere of time
In this intangible arena
Among the trees.
Softly-slowly-deeply-darkening
Crepuscular-creeping
Sweet time twixt worlds colliding.
Covert moving shadows
Offer glimpses through the
Deepening darkening dell;
Bridging the bridge of
Flowing rivers across the void
Of bubbling visionary lava
Tumultuous, ever-changing
Time merging oneness from
The flowing inspiration,
Transpiring from occluded canyons
Within collective thoughts,
Like mountain ranges, vast and lofty
Echoing the consciousness of humanity.

Helland Bridge May 2009

Sea Girl!

2009-01-18T20:28:00.019Z

Sea Girl!

Circling, circling
Over loud!
The Sea Girl
Singing, singing proud
On the old sea-front
With salt-spray crowning
The sirens calling
The dead men drowning!

With outstretched wings
The girl flies near
Hunting dinner
She instills loathing fear!
Art Deco splendour
All around
Fading into oblivion
Without a sound...

Sea Girl rises
Arise with thee
From the watery depths
She follows me
Around the dockland
With a deathly cry
I take my leave
From the home of thy!

Hidden Nature
Within all of me
My heart-song quickens
With intensity
Insanity creeping,
Creeping round
Whilst the Sea Girl
Feeds on insanity found!

With your stretched out wings
And your fish-like tail
Beautiful Sea Girl
Morphs on the wind and waves
Mythological creature
From the deep
By the Celtic Sea,
She seems never to sleep.

Penzance, January 2009

The Mirror Pool

2008-12-29T23:58:00.000Z

The Mirror Pool

Stealthily he drops to the ground
Hardly making any sound
By the Scrying Pool round
Whence magical energy abounds.

A still sheet of water from on high
Reflecting sun and stars and sky
The dragonflies dart, dancing by
Guarding the waters of prophecy.

The babbling of the woodland stream
Ushers us into a trance-like dream
Standing beneath the dappled Beech tree
Staring into the mirror pool, we see.

Crystalline waters soft and still
Perfected vision is such a thrill!
The softly spoken spirits came
They talked and inspired us once again.

The running water gently sang
Of other existences from whence we sprang
Tell me now, Oh Sacred Stream
Where exactly have you been?

For I care more now about the earth
Since long before my time of birth
Sacred Nature to whom I pray
I shall return to again some day.

Idless Woods, 1st August, 1999.

White Water Dash

2008-12-05T07:19:00.001Z

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

In the Fen Country

2008-11-06T07:40:00.001Z

Ely Cathedral

In the Fen Country

River Great Ouse, Isle of Ely

This poem was inspired partly by a Christmas day afternoon visit to Ely Cathedral in 1993, where the choir sung Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on Christmas Carols; and the same composers sublime symphonic impression In the Fen Country.

Lor hag Mor Porthcurno

2008-10-14T21:59:00.020+01:00

Lor hag Mor Porthcurno

On the beach at night
Under a starry sky adorned
With a thousand shining jewels
Amid mackerel skies.
Scudding clouds
Billowing, scurrying, hurrying
Across the round white disc of the moon
The crisp white surf glowing,
Reflecting the pale moonlight
The shining sand mirrors
Luna luminescence
Illuminating the pulsing tides and
The rhythm of the round
Silver moon and the swirling
Whirling eddies
Of the momentous sea.
Soft grey shadows entice us to stay a while
In this shallow bay of
Crashing singing surf echoing
Reverberating and encircling
Enchanting us with the ancient
Song of the swollen moon and sea.

Hunter's Moon, Porthcurno 2008

Ascending Orb of Bloody Night

2008-09-21T19:42:00.026+01:00

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

Fenland Sunset

2008-09-03T22:45:00.009+01:00

Fenland Sunset

Sullen eerie cries echo
Across the waters of the fen
Sacred saturated meres
Surrounding the Serpent Isle
Where Etheldreda's seat
Hides within the jewelled
Ship of the dark earthen levels.
Solar alchemy
Blending the cool evening air
With the skies palette of stars
Welded by the long
Straight silver rivers
Which lead a path towards eternity.
Blood-crimson light sinks into
the water-meadows and peat-bogs
Merging, entwining, becoming one with the
Dark Fenland night.

Sennen Sunset

2008-09-01T07:16:00.008+01:00

Sennen Sunset

Shimmering shafts of
Pale watery sunlight streaming,
Filtering and forging through
Foreboding dark clouds.

On this narrow Belerion
Western coast, the sun dips
Low, and the deepening cloud-colour
Create Nature's finest spectacle!

Her greatest show -
Of the setting western sun
Sinking into the surf
Of the mystical western ocean.

A Window on Another World!

2008-08-19T14:35:00.023+01:00

A Window on Another World!

Merry travellers from the east we go triumphant
On our quest, Sylvan Wye
Is calling
And we cannot wait to rest.

Seven miles a more
And our journey will abate
High up in those limestone hills
Destiny awaits!

Prey is sought from the waterway
To aid our magic dreams
Our minds made up, all doubts dissolve,
But is it really as it seems?

Last night camped rough amid the trees
Beside the river bank
This morning came the pompous ranger
A shot-gun at his flank!

An exchange of words: "No camping 'ere"
The strange man said to us
A suspicious eye rests on our catch
Oh what a lot of fuss!

Then off we go once more,
But our mirth abates in seconds
As the task up in those darkened hills
Surreptitiously beckons!

Within the cavern above the Wye
The congregation assembles
Nervous smiles exchanged but did I see
Our priestly leader tremble?

An oath is sworn in the eerie blackness
To be broken is pain of death
I cannot see my companions faces
But thankful to hear their breath.

Then from beyond the veil a sound, a cry?
From deep within the bowels of the earth
A low, low growl is heard by me
I now know what it's worth?

The rite has ended the morning broken
Lighting up our way
Last night's shamanic initiation seems not so bad
Within the light of day!

The Host of the Seraphim by Dead Can Dance

2008-08-19T14:25:00.003+01:00

Thirteen Caduceus

2008-07-24T16:09:00.003+01:00

Thirteen Caduceus

Thirteen!
Like the moons in a lunar year
That fit together
Without thought
Or effort
Omnipresent, like all things
In creation -
Our time together
A natural progression
Of spiritual growth
Blending with the waft and wend
Of the infinitely-expanding universe
And the realities of our
Individual lives
Which like a caduceus
Interlink and coalesce
To form a solid seal
Of balance, harmony
And communication
Swift on the wings of
Mercurial flight.
Thirteen years!
The magic of the number
Unlucky for some
Luckier for more
Benediction for us
Moving, flowing, inspiring
The love that shimmers like
A sacred spirit between
Two souls linked
Through time and space
Like a beacon
Across the void, beyond all reason,
Circling around, convening
At our door
Omnipresent and divine
The universal bond
That helps to reveal
That love truly does
Live forever!

(Dedicated to Paul on our 13th anniversary. 23 July 2008)

The Woodland Edge

2008-07-16T22:07:00.012+01:00

The Woodland Edge

At the edge of the trees
A great force is building
Swirling around
Blowing, gusting, rising
Pulsing through the ground.
The power of the woodland
A hidden secret strength
Is waiting to pounce
Or be gently teased awake
Depending on who may call.
His antlered head
Camouflaged
Between the oak leaves
Stirs and gently moves
At the woodland edge
Things profound
Are surely stirring
From the musky earthen ground
An ancient sound!
The sound of the ground,
From the ancient sovereign mound
The tones of Summer's pleasure
A sacred and majestic awakening -
Yeah, things are rustling and quivering
At the woodland edge.

Trevaylor Woods, May 2008

Detestable Fools

2008-07-14T07:43:00.011+01:00

Detestable Fools

I do not understand this world
Where children kill other children
With knives and guns
And where death threats are issued
Because of with whom
One dares to fall in love?
What is wrong with humankind
With their preaching and their rules
Their holy writs -
Those detestable fools.
What has happened to love -
Where has it gone?
And  where are all
Those questioners
And the heretics;
Those brave souls who
Dare to speak their truth
Against governments
Who want to control
Abuse or murder in the
Name of democracy
(In both east and west!)
Is a deathly silence
The price we pay?

The Haunted Abbey

2008-07-12T21:42:00.005+01:00

The Haunted Abbey

Beside the tidal flowing seeping
Creeping moving muddy sea
By the jetty the silent sailing
Moon-reflecting secrets
From the ancient creek-side abbey, haunted and
Ruinous beside the wandering
Summer-scented lanes where
Ghostly apparitions manifestations
Stay hidden from the modern-day ghost hunters
Bleeping and buzzing
Creating a symphony of noise
That any silent spirits
Nocturnal wanderings may go unnoticed
Because of all the distractions of
Ringing mobile phones
Wifi hotspots and digital cameras!
But when they have all departed from this
Ancient peaceful portal
The haunted abbey becomes haunted once again
With all the ghostly shimmers
The hazy full moon
Languishly rising over the water
Can create!
As her rippling reflection shines
On the incoming muddy tide
And the soothing darkened starry waters
Lapping against the salty shore,
Where hazel and elder thickets grow, occasionally
Trapping the odd Roebuck or two!
Secret wisdom lies hiding here, just out of reach
To all but those who care to look
By the estuarine haunted abbey
Where the bones of the old ones lie
Mysteriously watching those who
Patiently await!

Penglaz

2008-07-01T10:58:00.015+01:00

Penglaz

Bobbing and dancing
Through the old cobbled streets
The 'Obby 'Oss Night-Mare
Bewitches us with a steady drum-beat.

The ghostly white face
Of the 'Oss gathers near
Seeking wisdom
Of the creature's skeletal leer!

The crowd gathers round
Tension mounts, as she rears -
Then a commotion assembles
Snaking Serpent Dance cheer!

Writhing and twisting
Through the narrow dark streets
Down to the docks where
Ancient spirit's of 'Oss-Bucca meet.

Then away in the shadows
Of sinister mock-gothic facade
Torchlit dancing processions light the way
By the old bone-yard.

On the feast of St John
Summer Solstice, mid-year
This Golowan spectacle manifesting
So much joy and fear.

This ancient holy festival
Proves such a delight
It goes on and on through
The fatally short summer night

From it's dark folklore roots
From the long distant past
The mid-summer nights dreaming
It is once again ours!

Penglaz: the Solstice 'Obby 'Oss of Penzance
Photographs copyright Alex Langstone 2008

Carrack Looz en Cooz

2008-05-31T22:06:00.018+01:00

Carrack Looz en Cooz

The old grey rock
In the ancient
Submerged woodland
Looms from the sea-mist
Like a gigantic darkened ship
Sailing from another world
It's mast the thin dark
Tower of Michael
Rising from the top
Of the pyramid structure.

Tidal briny water now
Lapping at his shore
Hiding the forest realm
That once shrouded
This sacred mound
A rocky mystic islet
Floating on the
Shifting waters
At the softer edge
Of the wild Atlantic.

Carrack Looz en Cooz (The Grey Rock in the Wood)


Now on my podcast channel here!

Poetry Podcast Channel

2008-05-25T21:51:00.017+01:00

Oh Sacred Heart!

Carrack Looz en Cooz

Buckator

Dionysus

Mên an Tol

2008-05-20T23:01:00.016+01:00

Mên an Tol

Like a gateway rising
From the green carpet
Of Beltane Full Moon grown
Grass and bracken
The hole beckons me
To be near!

Like a writhing sea escapee
Leviathan rears from within
Portals open
Allowing memories
To flicker on a
Neolithic TV screen?

20th May 2008

Photography:  Paul Atlas-Saunders

April 2008 - Full Moon Haiku

2008-04-20T12:06:00.017+01:00

1. Ancient moon rising

Shining silver pathways to
Alchemical worlds.

2. Orbing like crazy
Manifesting sea spirits
Dance along the shore.

3. White Goddess sailing
Through dark clouds scudding across
The pale moonlit sky.

A Walk to Portreath

2008-04-20T11:48:00.002+01:00

A Walk to Portreath
The mid-morning sun
Reflects upon deep blue and
Turquoise ocean,
From high above
I sense new beginnings.
Purple heathers languishing
Betwixt tufted herbs
Lead me onwards
Entranced by colours
Across the spectrum.
Mauve orchid and pink foxglove
Pointing to heavenly hosts
Keeping company.
Such diversity abounds
In this hinterland
Of heath and briny water
And the song of nature -
Waves crashing Larks singing
Bees humming
All in unison with the
Melodious universe.
Away to the west Stands an
Island with beacon
A protective guardian of the bay,
Which illuminates
Artist and poet and mystic -
We all walk a similar way.

A Misty Valley In October

2008-04-19T13:35:00.029+01:00

A Misty Valley in October

A thin grey-silver mist
Clings to the shallow valley floor
Amid age-old trees belonging to
Autumn's fair stillness,
Their branching tendrils
Scratching at heaven's door.

I sit and gaze at
The eastern horizon
The sky aglow with the
Pale soft golden hue of the dawn,
The ancient abode
Of the fiery Phoenix.

My whimsical soul
Becomes immersed
Within this
Fantastic 
Pre-sunrise
Spectacle.

The mist hangs low and fast
To the shimmering
Valley floor
As I ponder upon the
Wondrous virtues
Of Nature's finest hour.

New Years Eve 1996

2008-04-08T14:50:00.005+01:00

New Year's Eve 1996

Starlit sylvan valley
On this night of nights
The earth crisp and solid
Beneath the footfalls
Of optimistic observers.
Tiny shafts of light
Glint from hilltops
Castle turret.
My bated breath vapourises
As we wait, and
All around the sound
Of peeling bells,
Creating the atmosphere
The still anticipation
Of a hopeful new year.

Easter Haiku 1

2008-03-22T13:53:00.006Z

Vernal Equinox

Moon glistening across the
Swollen sea of love.

Easter Haiku 2

2008-03-22T13:28:00.012Z

Equinox Hare Moon

Shines in Her eloquent way
Upon swelling buds.

Dusk in Ulting Churchyard

2008-03-12T21:54:00.009Z

Dusk in Ulting Churchyard

The harvest horizon
Beckons us with yellow hues
Upon the bank of a canal.
Tiny sentinel sacred space
Stands casting shadows to the east
And the crimson glow of the
Evening sun
Does much to allay my mood
And lift my heart-song high
As a barge approaches from
The west,
Carrying my future dreams
and aspirations
Of another life
With water's soft sonnet
I depart my past
For west coasts drenched in foam.
As the light fades
In my East Saxon Kingdom
I share in the western splendour
With my other self
Who was always there
Waiting for the eternal
Return of tomorrows dream.

Ulting, Essex September 1994

The Haunted Fen

2008-03-11T12:17:00.005Z

The Haunted Fen

A long twenty-four months
Have passed
Since I was last at this place
A wilderness landscape
Punctuated with lone trees,
Weathered by unseen hands.
The ghostly images of
Ancestors past
Impinging upon my mind -
"Here's to our dreams"
And the nightmare
Of darker fantasies
In this haunted landscape
Awash with spritely beings
From another time and space.

An Undefinable Thought!

2008-02-10T12:27:00.002Z

An Undefinable Thought!

Something inexplicable is in the air
An undefinable thought!
A distant feeling?
A chaotic plan?
There's something out their
I can tell,
I felt it momentarily
I know it well!

The unkempt passion of the land
Is holding secrets within it's hand.
A grasp that weakens by the hour,
If only I could tap the power.

My mind reshaping, re-attuning,
Heartened all the more,
That realisation coming closer
I hear it, sense it,
Heart beats louder...

A silent frown, a heaving sigh
The landscape whispers it's secret
Only to pass me by!

Abwoon

2008-02-10T12:00:00.000Z

Abwoon, sung in Aramaic by Lisa Gerrard. Below is an alternative translation of the Lord's Prayer by Dr. N. D. Klotz from Prayers of the Cosmos.

Birther! Father-Mother of the Cosmos,
you create all that moves in light.
Focus your light within us -
make it useful as the rays of a beacon to show the way.
Create your reign of unity now through
our fiery hearts and willing hands
From this divine union,
let us birth new images for a world of peace.
Your one desire that acts with ours,
as in all light so in all forms.
Help us love beyond our ideals and
sprout acts of compassion for all creatures.
Grant what we need each day in bread and insight.
Subsistence for the call of growing life.
Loose the cords of mistakes binding us,
as we release the strands we hold of others guilt.
Forgive our hidden past, the secret shames,
as we consistently forgive what others hide.
Don't let surface things delude us, but free us
from what holds us back from our true purpose.
Don't let us enter forgetfulness,
the temptation of false appearances.
Truly power these statements -
may they be ground from which all my actions grow.
Sealed in trust and faith. Amen.

Written at West Kennet Long Barrow

2008-02-06T19:51:00.000Z

Written at West Kennet
Long Barrow

Ursa Major!
Revealed itself to me
From an ancient tomb
Of mortality.

Glistening stars shine down
From heaven
And the seven cosmic lights
A gateway to the
Beauty of Nuit:
Queen of Heaven
Stars and sky
And the pulsing breath of
The universe is heard
Gently emerging from darkness
To hold and caress
Leading us toward
A new dawn.

Ursa Major
Revealed Herself to me
From an ancient womb
Of immortality.

23rd June 1991

Oomingmak by Cocteau Twins

2008-02-04T22:16:00.000Z

A great soundtrack for poetry

Miserere Mei by Gregorio Allegri

2008-01-31T22:30:00.000Z

Listen and enter a new dimension!

The Aira Force Faeries

2008-01-26T16:42:00.003Z

The Aira Force Faeries

Deep in a grove by
The White Goddess of love
The Aira Force Faeries
Peer down from above.

The force of the fall
Leading us on
Until we have spoken
And communed, one-on-one.

Dancing and singing
Fae folk waft and wend
Soothsaying and seeing us
Right to the end

Of the vertical valley
Hanging graceful, divine
To the song of the river
A familiar rhyme?

The Dobbies and Boggarts
Of the forest awake
Making mischief,they
Playfully give and they take;

From the tumbling white stream
Running down from the ghyll
To the vast shimmer of Ullswater
Below the hill.

The graceful flowing White Spectre
Playing Her role,
With supporting cast from the otherworld
Of hob-goblin and troll.

The descent of the water
Continues in haste
Which the Green Men of the woodland
Have all but outpaced

And as sunset approaches
Secret creatures retreat
To their hidden abodes
Beneath tumbling white sheets -

Of moonlit bathed water
All ghostly and bright,
Whooshing and gushing
Throughout the mysterious night.

Whilst the screech of an owl
And the grunt of the deer
Keep the Aira Force Faeries
From getting too near!

From a remote vision of Aira Force, Ullswater 2008

This poem has also been published in the
Lughnasadh 2008 issue of the Mirror of Isis

Tallis Fantasia by Ralph Vaughan Williams

2008-01-22T09:45:00.000Z

One of the most beautiful pieces of English music anywhere. An inspired evocation of the Spirit of Albion!

Initiation

2008-01-21T22:39:00.000Z

Pic: Imbolc Inner Sunset by Alex Langstone 2008

Initiation

I'm longing for a time when
The individuality of each new
Day dawns, with fresh hopes
And ideas, idealised in such a way
That thoughts transcend all
Logic and steal away to a
New time of creativity, knowledge
And total understanding of
Humanity in all its
Multi-faceted glory.

I'm longing for a time when
The long dour hours of
Nightmares lonely dreams,
Can regenerate into a kind of
New compassion and love
Which can be shared by the
Many faces of us all
In a way that each of us
Can appreciate, however
Different our appreciations
Are likely to be?

4 June 1999

Porthmeor Beach

2008-01-15T17:55:00.000Z

Porthmeor Beach

Wow!
What a scene:
Cascading water
Falls between
Unusual rock formations.
Wide curve of
Golden sand before us
Curve and taper of
Architecture behind us.
Surfers and artists
Parade the mind
Porthmeor Beach,
Wow, what a surprise!

Echoes

2008-01-14T17:20:00.000Z

Echoes

Echoes, whispers, everywhere
Tapping toes, skipping
Dancing sleeping,
In dust and shadow
Sun, wind and rain;
Under moonlit and
Starry skies -
Like the tears of
The departed
Taken from known realms
To new existences
Leaving immortal echoes
Of time spent together
And time spent apart
But always forever
The blueprint and shadows;
Recorded memories
Burned into our hearts.

10 January 2008

Ghost

Observations of a Cornish Sunrise

2007-12-29T13:00:00.000Z

Observations of a Cornish Sunrise from a Coach Window between Truro and Saltash

White frost encompasses
The undulating landscape,
Silver moon
Pale amid the morning shines.
Red glow upon the east
Casts a curious light
Demonstrating a warmth promised
Across deep shadowed and frosted hills.
The stillness of this winter's scene
Foretells a secret from another age
And a silence that deafens
With its intensity,
Fills my aching heart
With the jewel of this sunrise hour
Which stands alone, eternal,
Amongst the tonal hues
Of the dawn-clad sky.
A planet's Angelic quality
Arouses speculation from the
Devastation of another time!
How many light years
Arise before the star of time and us?
I lift mine eyes up along the line
Of infinity,
Creating days shadows and features.
Ice-like tendrils claw at me
Breaking the misty heady textures
That betroth thine eyes to me
Oh how I wonder
What made this universe creation
And how I wonder
At this morn-tide hour
How all of this may manifest?
For it is more profound
Than a flock of birds in unison,
Alighting at dusk, or
That of a whale that blows cascading water aloft
Amid the wild and beautiful seas.
And at this precise second
I feel at peace
With the heartbeat of Nature's song
Within this wondrous
Contoured and delectable
Land in which I dwell.

December 1994

For Paul (On our Sacred Handfasting)

2007-12-16T20:00:00.001Z

For Paul
(on our Sacred Handfasting)

Exquisite music fills the air
Meditations everywhere
Druidic figures intoning prose
Lovers' love together grows
A special place abounds for thee
Priestess begins the liturgy
Holy Goddess invocation
Sacred marriage initiation
Two hearts as one together we
Go forth entwined in ecstasy
A path of love has spiralled round
Friends which maketh not a sound
Silver and amethyst await
On the mystic sword by the cake-decked plate
The deities of which are sought
Are called form each elemental quarter
Then sacred rings are worn at last
Its time to let go of the past
My friend my lover listen to me
I am your bard for eternity

Kynance Cove in July

2007-12-11T19:56:00.000Z

Kynance Cove in July

Sweet smelling honeysuckle and
Bright purple heather
Blur my mind
Inside this perfumed windswept vale.
Deep blue vistas beyond
Create images of vast open spaces
And grey-green serpentine outcrops
Take my breath away!
White sands, stark before me
By dark cliffs menacing jaws,
Hide secrets of ancient mariners
Whose ships floundered within
The fearful dangers of the deep
So long ago.
Light diffusions
Play against the sea
Creating distortions on sand and stone
Against the shore.
Pyramid orchid
Jewel of this landscape panorama
Versus the ocean,
Shine in this place
And the gentle lapping of the
White-crested translucent turquoise
That caresses the shoreline
In a cleansing forward motion,
Wiping away memories of yesterday.

Author

The Segonia Poems

2007-11-15T23:09:00.004Z

The Watcher of Segonia

Windswept and miles away from home
Roaming harsh moorland and jagged cliff
Sensing things which cause tears
From bittersweet memories, still.
The Watcher stands
Like a sentinel guard
From a secret place!
Moving between the veil he goes
Wandering, watching, waiting,
Longing for peace of mind
By the salt-marsh estuary, where Swans fly.
White wings reaching out
Tempting alluring,
Beating softly, yet strongly
Against the turning tide
And the Watcher of Segonia
Waits with patience, tinged with sadness -
Those searching birds of
Virgin plumage
Leading, guiding forth
Throughout this land
This peninsular land, that
Has adopted me
And gently nurtured
Cradled within a cool sea-mist
And the steadfast hand of Cornovia:
My surrogate family.

St. Clement. 1995

Written at St. Clement by the Fal

Hail to thee...
Segonia: Bright Angel of birth
Segonia dark angel of mirth
Segonia winged angel of light
Segonia dark angel of night
You are within me,
Around me, a part of me.
You have always been in me
Around me, a part of me.
Segonia my sweet salvation
My dark soul angel of delight
Sing aloud with me
Sing softly with thee
O Glorious One
Bringer of the light, my
Bright Watcher of the night!

21 April 1997

The Reawakening

Along this esoteric way of Angels
An awakening has taken place
From dark wars' triumphant walls
To sea-caves secret depths
And the howling Atlantic gales,
Tonight my ancient love
Is ours for eternity.
Watching the Watchers
Watching the rays of silken sunlight
Departing England's Celtic shore
My heart belongs to thee
O Shining one of ancient lore,
Shape shifting sands
Swirling around,
Drunken to the roar of
The sea and wind,
We lose ourselves as one
Blending to infinity:
White wings reaching out once more
Enfolding and caressing
Protecting and holding
In the shadow of the
Pool of Swans
We congregate!

September 2000

The Pilgrimage

2007-11-08T10:15:00.000Z

The Pilgrimage

There is a place that I go
So far in the north,
A place that is constantly
Present within.
There is a place where I go
Ancient sanctuary lies,
A place to find peace
Within my own mind.
This place where I go
In the shadow of Skiddaw,
Where people can live out
Their legendary lives.
There is a place that I go
By the mountain and lake,
Where I have perpetually been
Since the dawn of time.
This place where I go
There eternity lies,
A place where I could
Peaceably die.

Seven

2007-11-03T10:04:00.001Z

Seven

The Holy seven lights
In the indigo midnight sky
Hold secrets and dreams
Of this special moment
In our lives.
Seven years, like the
Stars that shine from the
Sacred Ring or Arthur's Bear
Will glow eternally,
And like love
Will live forever.

Spaxton, Somerset. 23rd July 2002

Written Within View of Castlerigg Stone Circle

2007-10-13T21:50:00.000+01:00

Written Within View of Castlerigg Stone Circle

I cannot believe
That in this fateful hour
The infinite beauty
That shall caress mine eyes
Behold!
I cannot believe, that the
Glorious fanfare of strange
Stark contrasts that my gaze
Is upon, so lifts me that
I become overwhelmed by passions
That I have never known.
I cannot believe that
The form of beauty
That the scene fortells
Can (alone) create such an impression
Upon my mind
That primeval  memories stir
From depths uncharted territory.
So I am fired up by the glory of
The Holy Spirit
In Her pantheistic ways
Upon these eternal hills of mine.
I cannot believe that
Such variety of colour
And texture can engulf the
Ageless pattern strewn formations
Of fell side and mystic ring
And I cannot believe that Deity
Has not a hand in all of this and more
For surely all life's creation
Emanates from She who is
Sacred Earth's
Goddess Divine.

Castlerigg stones with Skiddaw beyond

Nature Is My Religion

2007-10-10T12:13:00.001+01:00

Dawn breaks over Thornthwaite, Cumbria

Nature is my Religion

Nature is my religion
Birdsong are my hymns
Groves of trees and meadow lands
My deities within.

I worship at the dawn
The chorus sings out loud
I kneel down by the river bank
My sacred altar flows by proud.

Lanner, Cornwall. March 1997

The Healing Place

2007-10-06T22:30:00.000+01:00

The Healing Place

Stone built chapel
By a lake
Silently seeking,
Healing and soothing
Generations aeon's clientèle.

Soaring mountain mother
As a backdrop rises
Secrets and mystics occluded, hide inside
Sparkling jeweled gifts are given
By the sacred law of inspiration.

And as we sit and ponder
At this special place of power
Souls are healed
From an infinite pool
Of wisdom.

Bassenthwaite Lake

Another beautiful musical interlude: Sanvean by Lisa Gerrard

2007-10-03T17:31:00.000+01:00

The music of Lisa Gerrard has been with me all my adult life, from Dead Can Dance in the 1980s through to her sparkling solo career and breathtaking film soundtracks. Listen whilst you read my poetry and enter another dimension, maybe?

Dionysus

2007-10-03T00:00:00.002+01:00

Neo Oberon by Yuri Leitch

Dionysus

Like Argante or Igraine You've Become

2007-10-01T21:28:00.000+01:00

Like Argante or Igraine You've Become

At the Heart of the Rose
Lies the Goddess of Love
Like Argante or Igraine you've become.
A lady of the lake
Shining brightly in our eyes
Like Brigid or Britannia you've become.
Your barge across the water
Was prematurely set in motion,
To join with the Company of Avalon
You are one.
You arise in people's dreams
From the light cast by he moon
Like the everlasting Goddess
You've become.
Made immortal by the masses
Sainted by the (so-called) sinners
Our Sacred Sovereign Sister
You're the one.
Watching over your blessed isle
Strewn with flowers
And ringed with trees,
Britain's mythology you've entered
You've become:
Arthur's everlasting bride
Merlin's counsel sought by you
In heritage revealed
Our mythic one!

Full Moon, September 1997

A musical interlude: Karl Jenkins vs Alfred Kubin

2007-10-01T20:59:00.000+01:00

The Faerie Bower

2007-09-26T18:09:00.001+01:00

 The Faerie Bower

The venerable oak and the
Steadfast hazel stand together
Within this haunted hollow.
Folk memory stirs dreamtime 
By the shining brook
Bubbling towards 
Sabrina Sea
And the 
Spirit of Inspiration
Touches deeply 
Revealing realities,
Showing the way.

Pightley,  Somerset. 2002

Goddess

2007-09-22T10:03:00.001+01:00

Pic: Imbolc Goddess by Paul Atlas-Saunders

 Goddess

The Lady came down from a star
To the sea
From whence she came
Infinitely.
The White Hind sits
In a leafy glade,
Sharing her fruits
In the summer shade.
The Dark Woman of Winter
We all do not see
But She is still there
I need to tell thee!
The forces within
On the shining path
Manifesting as Elen
Or Bride of the hearth.
In the forests and the sky
The cairns and the sea
Goddess within all
She is  Rhea, Binah, Ge!

Carn Brea

2007-09-16T19:16:00.000+01:00

St Euny's well, Carn Brea, Cornwall

Carn Brea

Clouded shrouded hill of vision
Stark silhouetted luminous beacon
Carn of fire!
Hidden twixt the veil
You speak to me.
Ancient castle
Sprouting from contorted rocks
Perched as though ready to make
A leap of faith
Into the sacred valley below
By the ancient well
With the cure-all waters,
Filtered through ageless strata
Of hill's geology.
Granite: compacted and weathered
Through ages past,
Twisted and sculptured by giant's hands
At this mini mountain of madness -
A high above amid summit's three
Lie secrets of another aeon
Rested and guarded by the
Mysterious midsummer Menhir
Keeper of the strange lost heritage
And the landscapes mysteries.

Mysterious midsummer Menhir

Morvah Moon - Marazion Moon

2007-09-12T21:47:00.000+01:00

(Pic: Paul Atlas-Saunders)


Morvah Moon

Glowing granite people sleeping
On Morvah moor beneath the
Full rounded moon
Shining, illuminating
The granitic hills
Translucent shapes morphing
Leading a silver pathway
Towards the roaring sea
Morvah moon fullness showing
Silently engaging the spirit of place
Allowing me to see
Beyond the veil momentarily.




Marazion Moon

Stillness of the ocean reflecting
Marazion moon
Showing us a
Shimmering path
Towards the holy isle of the
Arch-angel illuminating
In the stillness
Of a summer's night
Lights flicker across the bay
As folk immerse themselves
Into the crystalline quality

Of the mysterious Marazion moon.

August Full Moon, 2007

Oh Sacred Heart!

2007-09-12T21:33:00.006+01:00

Oh Sacred Heart!

Oh Sacred Heart
Thy luminous hill of vision
Lead us forth
Along the shimmering
Secret byways
Of England's green Avalon

(Pic. credit: Hecate's Dawn
by Paul Atlas-Saunders)

Now on my podcast channel here!

Porthtowan

2007-09-11T21:41:00.003+01:00

"A fisherman or a pilot was walking one night on the sands at Porthtowan, when all was still save the monotonous fall of the light waves upon the sand. He distinctively heard a voice from the sea exclaiming - 'The hour is come, but not the man.' This was repeated 3 times, when a black figure like that of a man appeared on top of the hill. It paused for a moment, the rushed impetuously down the steep incline, over the sands, and was lost in the sea."

Robert Hunt

Porthtowan

Come to the coast he cried To the beach with the Blinking eye. Lets go up to the cliffs where the Great gulls cry and the Howl of the wind and prevailing Surf crash to the beach, Come on! The great orb is setting Amid red western oceans and I want to lie back Beneath ripe budding moon Sailing through indigo skies. Come to the beach he cried For I wish to swim in Your mind, To partake of fresh sex And your untamed ways
Up to the cliff-top Rushing we go Voice from yonder valley Has spoken We cannot hide. Come to the beach - At Sand Dune Cove We’ll ride the surf Gatecrash our lives Help me you beauty I tell you no lies Come to the coast A whisper now heard A legend once told Is verily shared.

Beautiful Porthtowan on the north Cornwall coast

Green Man

2007-09-11T11:06:00.004+01:00

Neo-Oberon by Yuri Leitch

Green Man

Glimpsed through the trees and
Seen in the leaves
God-like green man,
You bring me to my knees!
In your oak and ivy-clad bower
So close to the sea
For one brief moment we
Conjoin and flower
Whilst surreptitiously hiding
From the profane
And nightmarish visions of reality.
At the height of the year,
Sap has risen, life is pulsing
Whilst the beat of your heart
Surges close to be near
Then completely fulfilled I watch as you leave
Gracefully disappearing through
The green of the trees.
I know you’ll be near me, always for ever
Sylvan Green Man
In my heart as my muse,
I’ve taken a token away from your being
Your essence is with me always
Gracious Green Man
And I wish that you’d come near me
Again for completion
In my dreams you are with me,
Hear the beat of my heart!
Your sacred breath smells sweet,
Like the soft forest floor.
And as sunlight filters through
The rustling canopy
I'm feeling your warm presence
For a transient second, before
You vanish once more within
The green of the trees.

Yule King by Yuri Leitch

Awaiting Twilight Upon Lucifer Bridge

2007-09-10T17:59:00.008+01:00

Slowly the river flows... River Medway

Awaiting Twilight Upon Lucifer Bridge

Slowly the river flows
Steadily moving forwards
Towards unknown destinations
And expectations.
Fish of Dagon cause ripples
Which induce disturbances
Like those of my mind
As I first look up stream
And then down.
Lush green trees
Swoop like the curve
Of Angel's wings
Down to the water's surface
Sometimes breaking the stillness
Of the moment.
Bird song and cry
Pierce the dusky haze
Preceding darkness,
A song of sorrow maybe?
Like that of an infant motherless
We await twilight upon Lucifer Bridge.
At the chosen moment they come
From their grazing pastures
The Nephilim!
Standing, floating amid the mist on the river.
What has thy forsaken to be here
At this crepuscular hour?
A fleeting vision of beauty
Unfolds to that of sorrow,
As the angels retreat
I peruse the scene
Now lost in the moment forever
Within the darkness of
Lucifer Bridge

Tonbridge, Kent. 1994

Top