Elder

[Delta40]

Soft pith of aeld
Protector from evil
Deciduous love
that crucifies
wadjella man

Cymes of creamy white
Danish elves
Brewer of herbal remedies.
Midnight swoons
Plump berries
Brandy stained lips

Drooping bunches
Diuretic
Emetic
Purgative
Green leaflets

Elder roaming
Dreamtime spirit
of boodjar land
Hanging traitor
Bitter after taste
Buant hwyr yr vydin

Kindle witchmother
Sacred Hylde-Moer
Etain Macha
Cradled sleep

Abode of Judas
Ancient voice
Despeyr he hadde
Stippled bark
Grainy death knot

[PrinceMyshkin]

I read this as if it were some sort of incantation taking place before me, not necessarily meant to be understood root and stock by me.

There's a beautiful otherness to it but I wish I could claim more to have followed the literal sense of it.

[hillwalker]

When I was a kid I used to read the label on the tomato sauce bottle during meal times if I got bored - and this was a little like that. A list of ingredients, properties, serving suggestions and a wealth of exotic terms and references that demand further research.

I love the 'olde worlde' language - evocative yet slightly disturbing. It's an original piece and certainly reminiscent of some incantation or spell - Druidic with a touch of Abo?

H

[AuntShecky]

Yes, this does capture the flavor of an incantation as well as the magic of archaic language.

There must be something Jungian in the zeitgeist, as this must be pagan-Druid week on the LitNet. (I just finished reading Hawkman's poem which has a similar sensibility.

What I like best about this one, Delta dear, is that the poem never forgets that it's about an elder -- a tree, both indisputably natural with mystical-- we'd like to think--properties. When we use the expression "Knock on wood" we might not know it, but we're echoing ancient wisdom that a spirit inhabited every individual tree.

Your originality is refreshing! Thanks for posting this one.

[AuntShecky]

Yes, this does capture the flavor of an incantation as well as the magic of archaic language.


This must be pagan-Druid week on the LitNet, as I just finished reading Hawkman's poem which has a similar sensibility.

What I like best about this one, Delta dear, is that the poem never forgets that it's about an elder -- a tree, both indisputably natural with mystical-- we'd like to think--properties. (Medicinal uses, too, as your poem points out.)

When we use the expression "Knock on wood" we might not know it, but we're echoing ancient wisdom that a spirit inhabited every individual tree.

Also, I like the mix of O.E. and Welsh vocabulary, as well as --I take it-- Australian aborigine terms.
One of your lines quotes this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cad_Goddeu

Your original topic is refreshing! Thanks for posting this.

[Delta40]

Thank you Prince, Hill and Aunty. You have bestowed magical properties upon this piece that I could not have imagined.