Thursday 29 June 2017

A Queen of All She Sees: 3 Green Valley Sleeper

The song is sung on hearth and heath
To remind the sleeper to sleep deep,
And to stay beneath the sod
Whilst, on top, us mortals plod
Dreams of ice bears fill a mind
That moves world wide and glacier slow
And holds inside a growing force
That helps the seeds and corn to grow
Once human fingers rooted be
And once wet eyes now knot each tree
And hands that once a valley saved
Do waft the wind, propel the waves
She knows, as such a girl will always do,
That he has not gone, but moved on,
And that the Ravens, though they caw and chirp
Their words and secrets in her ear
(a surprise to the uninitiated
who wandered up the lane
for milk or eggs, sent there
by friends with sense of humour
and not a little malice),
still owe allegiance to the valley Lord.
She wonders if they tell on her,
Pass messages to some strange beyond.
But when she asks them,
Direct and honest like,
How he does and what he does,
They do the cawing bird stupid thing,
Then bring her little gifts,
Perhaps condolences,
Or perhaps just mischief or distraction.
This does not please her,
So she has stopped asking,
As what a Raven thinks is treasure,
Will not bring a quaker girl much pleasure
He does hear
Of course he hears, he hears it all,
He hears each acorn drop
And each web tremble with each fly’s passing,
He hears each voice and birdcall,
And as humanity occasionally returns,
Hears voices he once remembered
And the soil cracks at his fond smiles,
And sand dunes shift at his brows furrow,
His hand move beneath the earth
And cracks open seed pods,
Bursts wide corms ,
Send new flowers to decorate the paths
Upon which his little sister walks,
To make her path and mastery
If not easier
Then one of magic and of beauty.
So when her power is on her
And her time is getting near
She walks about her daily chores,
And behind her,
Nothing but flowers
Crocus, snowdrops,
wild magnolias,
and of course

sweet Lilies of the valley

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