She Comes, Part Two

The drum, the drum, the Druid in the East The daylight shattering the glass of night Behold the mead and cake that form the feast Behold the glorious blessing of the light The blazing gorse flames yellow on the hill Bright shafts of sun surround the Druid’s head She comes, she comes, my daughter liveth still Released at last from fathoms of the dead Her eyes are purple crocuses, her hair Is woven through with wood anemones She shocks the eyes, her presence is so rare And strong, as hyacinths upon the breeze She wears the sun a-shimmer on her dress In folds of drops of snow and celandines And, as befits she with the power to bless Comes riding on a stag of seven tines She speaks unto the awed and silent crowd “I come” she says “I bring the fire of life I come to cast my seeds on fields ploughed To quell your hunger and relieve your strife I bring you daylight from the depths of hell Where I with Hades am forever wed Of Christ and Dionysus I shall tell In sacred stories of the risen dead” The crowd are stunned to silence, robbed of breath She came, she came, brought winter to his knees Defied the dreadful tide of dark and death To bless the ground with shoots, and trees with leaves The ancient Druid offers up the cup The wine of her libations there to sip He bows his head, as down she stoops to sup And touch the cup upon her rosy lip And with this act the sunlight floods the sky The spell is broken by the touch of earth And Demeter runs forward with a cry To hold the maiden that she brought to birth The seasons come, the seasons go, and all Shall rise and fall and fade and reappear And Spring shall once more answer to the call Of Hades at the dying of the year But here, by mother love and heat of day Persephone is made a child again To run upon the hills; to dance and play And plant her flowers in the world of men © Gail Foster 2016