A mythic poem: earth and sky as wed, And wedding places cover earth’s domain; Wren’s nest, fox den, bear cave – and human bed. All warm and dark, all different but the same, Where seeds are nurtured, creatures brought to birth. On woodland floors, damp rotting layered leaves Shroud multitudes of sprouting plants; no dearth Of anything, bats hunt, a spider weaves. But Birches’ rushing sap goes down as well As up, arboreal pale ghosts, thin ghouls; Old age’s midwives watch each passing hearse; The leafless, bone-barked Yuletide trees of Hel. Hopes of rebirth seem vain and hollow, cruel, Like Loki’s daughter’s grinning horse-head curse.
___________________________
P. D. Brown