Song Of The Willow Wisp
The dancing lights are out tonight--
they took me from
my pillow.
They led me on when light was gone
to the root-nest of
the willow.
There in the snag where the dead weeds drag
and the live ones wrap
and capture
I caught my foot in wild willow root--
cold water made
the trap sure.
Now I dance all night with an icefire light
and take men from
their pillows
down to the stream where scream murders dream
in the root-nest of
the willows.
~October 2015
Image: Illustration of Ignis Fatuus, author unknown
Public Domain
Yikes! Beautiful creepy music here--just terrific internal (and external) rhyme, and a great conceit--works so well with willow not just on the music level but the horticultural! k.
ReplyDeleteChilling! Perfect for this time of year! Loved the rhyming!
ReplyDeleteps - I love the title which I had not focused on. k.
ReplyDeleteThis made me squeal. How I love it, Hedge! It reads like a movie--a terrifyingly wonderful movie that makes a body jump at the right times. Love the poetic circle, too... and the music.
ReplyDeleteAh willow, all is not only weepy! That's a daylight remainder, the sadness after the noctal plunder. Perfect capture of the folktale's icy vibe, the dancing lights like Ariel's song, luring the innocent attention out beyond the border of the sane and known to dance, perhaps to dream, though the surer grip is nightmare, and the fate is that of the damsel of no mercy luring men to the cold hill beyond the last light of town. Perfectly metered, measured, rhymed, like a shot of Jaegermeister with blood on the rim. A wonderful jagged tooth for the October pumpkin hoot.
ReplyDeleteYes, with a few apologies to Tom Bombadill. ;_) Thanks, B . October needs its anthems.
DeleteAaaargh!!! Perfectly ghoulish. And a wonderful rhythm and rhyme.
ReplyDeleteDelightfully eerie! Love the rhyme and cadence.
ReplyDeleteYes, yes, yes! You own October, Hedge.
ReplyDeleteLoved the rhythm of this--this just made my hair stand on end!
ReplyDeletefrom the first word I knew I had to read this aloud. lovely goosebumps. I so admire the end of V4, how it fits and rhymes and meters. just a perfect way to start reading poetry on a Sunday morning... ~
ReplyDeleteOf course you do. As any self-respecting witch would! I agree with MZ; you own October, girl.
ReplyDeleteI love "the rootnest of the willow". You write so well, I can feel the dampness on my cheek of those night mists.
ReplyDelete