The Spell

[lnhammer]

Listen, my dear, and twist your ring --
To cast the spell you need these things:

      Fresh evergreen, a stone unseen,
          The crimson sun at dawn,
      A dancing bear at the county fair,
          A hidden dappled fawn.

Watch closely where the magic clings --
To cast the spell you need these things:

      An autumn freeze caught on the breeze,
          Grey fog that fills the valley,
      Twittering bats at twilight, cats,
          Maids and men who dally.

Remember what the river sings --
To cast the spell you need these things:

      The ancient moon behind a dune,
          A lamb or calf, depending,
      A red stone wall in light snow-fall,
          A circle neverending.

Live each day in what it brings --
The spell is cast in all these things.

—23 April 2000

One of the first things I wrote after spending a handful of years blocked.

---L.

Comments

[ex_asakiyume313]

That's a lovely way to burst through into poetry again. I like the red stone wall in light snow-fall best of.... all.

I like the next one along, the steampunk one, too, but I had thought I'd like to try to make a poem response, and then one didn't come....

[lnhammer]

I woke my writing brain through nursery rhymes. This seems appropriate, somehow.

---L.