Samhain musings

The veil is parting, growing thin
On the new Moon begun
Children anticipate fun
Few will recall
The darkness
As the moon in the sky grows full

New moon to New moon
The seasons tide does turn
Samhain, Summers End
When souls of those gone
Might come to visit again

Share a meal
In silence
In the dark
Lift a toast
To those you miss the most

Let grief run it’s course
Mourn those not yet ready
To let the feelings in
Each to their own time
Days, months or years

Let those of the wild hunt fly
Through the darkest of nights
Across the sky
Gathering in all the lost and weary ones
Who’ve not yet found their way
Back to the beginning
Back to the end

Weep or cry
Leap or fly
Death is not the end of life
Simply it’s transformation

Light your candles
In pumpkins this night
Keep at bay the devils
The fears that haunt the night
Light another candle
In a place held dear
To light the way
Across the years
Where memories live
Of those we’ve held dear

Now sleep my friends
Another day will dawn
While in this world
Life goes ever, ever on

Threshold Day

Tomorrow will be a threshold day
The dark corridor of mourning
Will open wide to the the sanctuary of grief
The sun will rise
The rain will fall
As two whom I loved
Are returned to the ground
Tears will streak faces
Yes even mine
Small intimate traces
Of a love profound
Be at peace some will say
Know they are not gone
Tomorrow’s the day
When the threshold’s crossed
A new world arises
Through tears and through dust

Description of a Journey “Home”

My journey to Berkshire County last night was quite a bit of an adventure. The last half was made in the darkness. The roadway, the Taconic State Parkway through New York, can only be described as an hour long roller coaster ride, not unlike I imagine the experience of Space Mountain in Disney world. It is a curving road, that rises and dips through the hills and almost mountains that surround the place I once called home. One can, but I think should not, use the Cruise control on your car to make this trip. I tried it for a little while, but found that a sense of out of control terror, flirted with the edge of my awareness. When I took control of the accelerator, the journey was still one that would set the heart to beat faster, but the idea of hurtling forward uncontrolled lessened.

One thing I have forgotten in the years I have been away from this place is that in order to drive any distance here, you must actively drive. In Tulsa, and the roads between here and there, the roads curve gently, if at all, and the Hills rise and fall in a similar manner. Here, in order to stay on the road your mind must actively engage with the road. Your eyes must observe the curve of the white lines along the side of the road to know just how soon to guide yourself either right or left. Your attention must be vigilant to the eye shine seen in the trees so close to the road in order to avoid the sudden leaping of a deer, or the scurry of some other creature who is startled by your passing. In most places in Tulsa your awareness is to the other people around you. Here, on a dark curvy road at 60 mph your awareness expands to take in the land, and those other presences that share the land through which you travel. At home, driving has become an almost automatic thing. Here, fully engaged with the process, a road trip truly becomes a journey.