Come November
On the mountaintop, the wind
of Samhain whispers
your name and yours
my beloveds
who slipped through the veil
before me
ruffling my hair.
Oak and hickory—
silent, steady angels
whose limbs direct me
everywhere and
nowhere—
form a curtain
of gold that shifts, invites,
while green lichen inches its steady way
over mottled limestone boulders
silent and rooted for millennia.
I wait. I listen
for Ancient Wisdom
for what I must release
for the path that beckons me
across the liminal threshold
to whatever will be.
Like the steadfast boulder, I sit
silent-rooted
while the sun warms my skin and
the white-throated sparrow
with aged wisdom sings,
(c) Rosemary McMahan
*Samhain (pronounced Sow-wen) is a Celtic season lasting from October 31 until Nov. 24 that corresponds to Halloween and All Saints’/All Souls’ Days. Traditionally, it is thought to “open” the fine and filmy space between earth and the Otherworld, allowing wisdom to be passed from ancestors and Nature.
Photo credit: (c) Rosemary McMahan
