Samhain

You were just seen

taking sides with barroom swagger

By summer boardwalk, smiling

At the play party, surrounded, enraptured

Wearing white, becoming devout,

speaking a new tongue

You were life all over just days ago we saw you

Training for the race,

holding court at the Pagan potluck,

counting found change,

you were a mentor, a nurturer,

a father/mother/child/distant cousin,

You were the international stage.

Now, we see you no longer.

Sometimes, the shock of ending.

Always. The ending.

And so we hold on

Believing cycles through birth

or dirt,

Some bits may touch again

In a great Atlantic crest,

our atoms

and yours.

We dance the desperate spiral

The memory of your voice a shaman’s

rattle

Desperate, shouting dark blue

blood bombs

Why aren’t we here

together

same side of this veil?

And so we dance.

What else to do but dance us into

silky grace

We dance we make song we, in jet planes and trances,

take the aerial view

Up and away, earth movements tiny and profound, and then

we come down.

We light a fire.

We fix you supper.

Robin Renée, 10/23/18

Listen to "Samhain Traditions (Episode 22)" on The Leftscape.