1. Winter Solstice
Here in the embers of December
As the veil between the years grows thin
Rejoice that we are all together
As days will soon draw out
While we draw in
2. IMBOLC
How is it then that this most ancient fest
Appears anew the current ways to test
As Ewes milk once again begins to flow
Yet still the hearth’s full bloodied embers glow
That we may glimpse a future not yet known
As days will now grow brighter
to reveal our inner home.
For Imbolc is the time to test the Seer
To sit before the fire with ‘Poeteer’
And dream of Brighid’s gift of womanhood
Then know that what we dream, is what we should.
3. Spring Equinox
Awake Green Man, Awake Green Man, Awake Green Man, Awake Green Man
Awake Awake from your deep deep sleep
From behind new leaves you begin to peep
Stirring life within us so fresh and green
For we’ve slept so long and you’ve not been seen
Awake Green Man, Awake Green Man, Awake Green Man, Awake Green Man
Now you dance and shake us back into life
From our dormant state acting as midwife
For it is time to rouse and it is time to stir
There will be no slacking whilst Green Man’s here
Awake Green Man, Awake Green Man, Awake Green Man, Awake Green Man
Touching leaves and branches with life anew
Jack in the Green touches us all too
Breathing life and vigour into our limbs
Time to stir our stumps and regain our pins
Awake Green Man, Awake Green Man, Awake Green Man, Awake Green Man
4. Beltaine
You May
May you always sing the world alive each Spring
Let the Sun become a giant’s beachball
Bouncing from petalled rim to ribbed petal in ribald play
Allowing expectations all to flourish
In the gloriously permissive,
-Uncertain and therefore unlimited –
Word and world of MAY
Yes, you most certainly May
Tumble beneath the abundantly flowering May
In this fully and most spactacularly alive month of May
A Blessing
May you tumble beneath the May in May.
Its such an enlivening “All options open’ word –
MAY
It gives us all permission to flower.
Three simple letters M…..A……Y…….
Mmmmm
Ahhhhhh
Yessss!
5. Summer Solstice
Here at the high point of the year, the sun it is now turning
When all around shouts out a fundamental love of life
The sun orb draws our inner sap inspiring inner yearning
And draws us forth with wondrous heart unto its zenith heights
For the Sun Stands still at Solstice
Let us all do the same
And in a burning instant
Connect with all by name
As energies ascendant now relax and will decline
Reflect on how this pattern is well mirrored in our lives
As thirty somethings know so well this spell it comes to pass
We reach our height at forty then are all put out to grass
For the Sun Stands still at Solstice
Let us all do the same
And in a burning instant
Connect with all by name
But a fuller way to view it is that after Summer’s height
Comes the reaping of the harvest with the drawing in of night
And the chance to savour Autumn fruits most plentiful and sweet
Which once were barely dreamed of but which now make life complete
For the Sun Stands still at Solstice
Let us all do the same
And in a burning instant
Connect with all by name
6. Lughnasadh
Amesbury to Avebury
We are as dolphins drawn to manna
By the echoes of the stones
Summoned from the half light
By the radar in our bones.
The resonance resounding now
As through the ageless years
for any who have entered with
Still mind and open ears.
Remembering forgetfulness
The secret magic melts
The frozen capsule of ourselves
Cryogenic man – post Celt.
the mind engulfing humming
the strange and mystic glow
As upswellings of life force
From Earth to heaven flow.
Now the light and sound that issues
From the rocks throughout my form
Reverberates in landscape
And pure spirit is reborn
For the wizened stones as witness
With secrets are imbued
Mathematics; Music; Mystery;
Mighty hewn and multi hued.
7. Autumn Equinox
Old Man of Wilmington
With poles at either hand
For many generations
You have puzzled all this land
But your message is quite simple
And plain for all to see;
Walk the Middle pathway
And seek out harmony.
8. Samhain
Dad’s
e
a
d
And now that the umbrella’s gone
Suddenly I stand exposed
The next one in the firing line
The blackspot baton handed on
All those years , not quite wholly aware
The imperfectly secure shield before me
Cushioning the impact
Of death in the raw
A crucial reference point
Wiped off the map
Yet not gone
Merely no longer seen
Grief’s affectionate tears
And child cloud memories remain
Permeating the brain and cascading forth
Into generations new
All poems © JJ Middleway.
