Dark of the Moon at Imbolc

I shall
complete something
and put all the materials away
and sweep the floor clean of threads.
I will fast to cleanse my mind and body
through this dark and this deep stillness;
I will douse the fires and melt down wax
and make new candles to call new light.
But while it sets, while all is still dark
I will lift this inward veil
and face myself
quietly.

What do I want?
What do I need right now?
Is there a hope to drive this next chapter,
and if so what should I have in my backpack?
The seed catalogues have come through snow.
And faith allows me to daydream and choose
something healthy and something pretty
like strength to fulfill duty
and columbine and cinquefoil and sheep campion which will grow where they please, thank you very much
and I will light the new candles and eat cheese and tell stories to the stars.

The Dancing

I am in the presence of a thousand small gods in wild ecstasy
For one of their own gods has come to play
to fiddle for them a passion beyond music
and the trees keep the beat from the edge of the great circle
and each small god is the power of a hundred thousand flakes of snow
and none of them fall,
and none of them stop,
and none of them slow.

He writes

In a gentle, wandering epistle,
In a style that makes me think of a grey kitten climbing,
In the most welcoming and thoughtful way,

That my company is a blessing and our collaboration a privilege.

He writes,
As though thinking to himself,
As though he is trying ideas on for size,

That I could reflect and reconsider my relationship to Duty.

He writes that my poetic thought is not a reclining invalid, but could stand up within the tension of classic forms;
that the works of my brain with engrams and spreadsheets
and the works of my hands with patterns and lines and measurements
and yarns and calculus
could be integrated
with the yearnings of my spirit to fly
on an infinite wind
of heart-passions and words.

He writes meandering phrases and clauses and sentences

On a path which folds and turns and re-folds and returns to
the center of the labyrinth.

The peaceful week

No more work to do than will fill an enthusiastic afternoon,
this week lends itself to walking, tending, planning…

Wait. Scratch that.

I could go sledding all morning.
Wooly socks, hot breakfast, good mittens — see you later!

Brilliant

So very high in the northwest,
casting perfect white light down to be caught and reflected by the snow

Just gorgeous.
thank you, sweet moon, for this glorious display in a perfectly black-and-stars sky.

Snow and Stars and Moon.
My heart is full.

Twenty four years ago

She thought of how to angle the roof
and how long to make the eaves overhang
(and I checked the math)

And twenty three years ago
She set post to foundation
(and I did a great deal of “hold the other end” of things)

And twenty two years ago
We moved in to our beautiful Taigh Connlaich

And for twenty two years, on the shortest, darkest days of the year,
the sunlight comes streaming in every window,
full on
and hits the back wall
and covers the whole dark stone floor in radiance
and keeps our little family warm.

Our sweet house

I can feel her snuggling in smugly to December.

She’s a “one room cabin” — plus bathroom, plus the crawl space upstairs which we use as two bedrooms, plus the dark addition which we use as entry and storage and pantry and workshop, plus the light addition (doesn’t have all its walls) which we use for construction materials.

She’s a one room cabin whose welcoming reach exceeds her grasp.

She’s over the moon to know there will be celebrations here soon, more celebrations, more confluences of quests and calendars.

She’s warm, she’s bright. My house is ready for the holidays.