Green Summer Country
"The sea turned to plain land, the snow on the mountain disappeared. In my eyes thousands of years fade like dust yet my heart is as before...I thought I had forgotten, but I remember everything" ~unknown, from the Mandarin
I walk there in dreams,
the old summer country,
nave of a worship
where ice dies to green fire,
where we tended the world tree
whose roots wrap around
the well of the word;
where we bound the Great Wolf
with the trust of a god
made one-handed,
in the time when the mistletoe
was too young to swear oaths.
I walk there now, with
snow spirits warmed
in green shadow,
where the deer
sigh and surrender
to the arrow and its prayer,
where the Great Serpent gentled
belts the water around the wide land,
waves married to shore.
Where to eat is to be blessed
to love is to be whole
to suffer is to gain wisdom,
where bees make our wine,
where every leaf
hides the saga of a king.
My feet
wander lost, my throat blisters
when I wake to the Serpent unloosed,
the sea spoiled and untied,
the Wolf's bite tearing the snow
from the mountains. My eyes
hold the dust of a thousand years
yet my heart
is the same.
I thought I had forgotten this;
I've forgotten nothing.
June 2022
posted for earthweal's
Dreaming In Green hosted by Sherry Marr
Notes: The poem references figures from Norse mythology; Ygdrasil, Fenris,Jormungandr,Tyr, the story of Baldur. The transcribed quote at the header I heard last night while watching a serialized Chinese television drama.
Images: The Glenn, 1936, ©Maxfield Parrish Public Domain
Jormangand, the World Serpent © Aleski Briclot via internet Fair Use
Joy, my entire being is goosebumped, from temples to ankles. Stunning. Stunning. ~
ReplyDeleteThanks, M. I hadn't realized I hit publish--I was going to come back first and take a second look after lunch. But you convince me it is okay, so doubly grateful for your input.
Deleteback to enjoy this again. the not-quite-spoiled sea graced me with humpback whales today, breaching, and surfing dolphins, and dive-bomb pelicans hunting as well. enjoying it while I can. perhaps the ocean has yet a few ties to us, yet ~
DeleteThank you for coming back by, M. Yes, tho we may be close to Ragnarok, the Serpent is still holding the sea and land together, and all that dwells within those waves can have a final dance--we have to understand what luck we have had to be possibly the last generation to see it before all that is gone...as you showed in your own latest piece of magic. I envy you the whales, and that salt smell of life that is like nothing else on earth.
DeleteOh my goodness, Joy. This poem leaves me speechless! It is truly glorious and full of soul. I love the opening: "I walk there in dreams, the old summer country." (I walk there too.) Your imagery is breathtaking, and I love the way you present the images first when the world was young, then come back to them after the spoiling, the wolf tearing the snow from the mountains. The dust of a thousand years in eyes and heart. Sigh. Absolutely gorgeous writing. Superb. So happy you wrote to my prompt.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sherry. I loved your idea of 'dreaming in green, ' and am glad I could find some words for it.
DeleteTo dream is to believe the old gods smiled in the old green summer and behold it in this glade rarely found today. I think this is as naked of heart as I've ever read in your work. A rarest of places, perhaps most honored for that. Of course, we do waken, privileging so green a summer back and deep and almost lost. Til we dream again and remember all. Divine torque torque for fluent mundo, Hedge.
ReplyDeleteThanks, B. This prompt kept whispering to me all week and made me think of several dreams I've had about the forest, and the old laughing and fickle gods. I had quite a few doubts about it, as it seems a bit soppy at times, but I was hoping the narrative could be just a tool of the message--and isn't that what we always hope? Anyway, glad you found something here, and thanks for all you and Sherry do at earthweal to keep me thinking of things I often would rather let sleep.
Deletethis poem is just brimming with spirit, no, overflowing. you catch a lot of in-between moments in this poem "where ice dies to green fire" "snow spirits warmed" "waves married to shore" and more. in the olden days (i love it when little kids ask me questions about the "olden days" so cute) magic was believed to exist in the transitions, between light and shadow, day and night, water and land, even the season, winter and spring, like your done here. you really caoture that magic in this poem, love that feeling... gorgeous poem joy.
ReplyDeletewow, look at all those typos, i need some coffee
DeleteHa! No worries, man. I am fluent in typonese. grapeling pointed out to me yesterday I had a typo in the title of Philospher by Moonlight, and I must have looked at it a hundred times and never seen it. Plus, typing without coffee, let alone reading poetry, can be hazardous to your health. That aside, I really like what you had to say about this--the olden days, indeed, and the magic of those in-between things, not one thing or the other; reminds me of the witch saying, a name is the simplest spell there is. Thanks so much for taking the time to chew on this one and give me your feedback, especially uncaffienated.
DeleteI think that's true--our hearts still know this world. If only the human mind could remember it too.
ReplyDeletePerhaps that ancient wisdom never leaves us! I am back in my hometown after many years, and I keep coming across landscapes that I only remember from childhood dreams...
ReplyDeleteHold my breath beautiful and so full of the magic of the edges and spaces between. And the ending aches - so feel this too. Magnificent.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, Joy, as always. You weave opposites together with ease and each frame by frame image is like a wonderfully illustrated ancient storybook. Mythical, Arthurian, centuries old, powerful.
ReplyDeleteLove these lines:
"My eyes
hold the dust of a thousand years
yet my heart
is the same.
I thought I had forgotten this;
I've forgotten nothing."
<3
So many amazing lines and images! "in the time when the mistletoe
ReplyDeletewas too young to swear oaths." "the Wolf's bite tearing the snow
from the mountains." This is a wonderful poem. Apologies I haven't been around much, trying to catch up here!