Celtic Mother

. In the time of dead leaves, when wide-eyed things frowned at sound, and snow fell through fog, a red berry circlet crowned her hair. When hunger stilled infants and frost shrouded ancients, wrinkled laughter dappled forests, glades, fens. Her talons clawed life through death, veil through veil. Mother. Hag. Virgin whore. Giver, taker, wise before gods' birth. In the time of black robes, when men killed for one mouth of meat, she walked naked on frozen fields, and the earth shuddered its young upwards. Mother. Midwife. Woman. She was breathtaking. .