MIST
OF AVALON
The
sun set on my life a year since
My
soul was sent spinning to the otherworld,
Now
I sit under the moon and wait
Wait
for my love to join me,
I am
in Avalon,
The
playground of the dead.
The
mist swirls over the calm water
Of
the dividing sea,
When
the mist touches the shore
In
it’s enveloping embrace
I enter
its cloaking realm,
And
with fellow spirits
I travel
the water to see
The
living world….
My
Kernow.
The
Gods allow the dead to roam
In
return for peace in their realm,
So
I can see my Faelleann
Wife,
lover, mother and widow
To
a warrior of Britain,
I have
walked near the shores edge
The
living, they see the wraiths in the mist
Fearful
they hide in their little houses,
Dogs
bark as I stare with frozen eyes
My
wife stands alone.
Her
hair full and blazing red
Like
the furnaces of Cruachans cave,
Lights
up the sky and beguiles me still
The
lips, the sweet curves of her body
Impale
my spectral heart; she is lost to me
Another
warrior’s plaything to be,
And
I scream in silent anger and despair.
Only
the waves hear my cries
The
living fear a storm as the mist surges,
My
sword and shield waved in pathetic defiance
As
strong arms of wind drag me away from her.
The
Gods felt my pain
As
every night I travelled in the mist,
And
told me they would release her other body
As
she slept peacefully and unbeknown,
But
I wanted her to live, raising my children
To
remember me,
Dirwrwolf, warrior and father.
My
entreaties were heard
And
I stood, a proud, armour clad spirit
Summoned
by Bel in his high hall,
“You are given leave to
see your woman,
But you will never return
to Avalon”
I
fell to my knees and wept,
The
Gods I killed for had honoured me.
“You must not touch your
woman
If you want her to live,
If you do she dies,
You will remain on Earth,
but you will not walk it”
I
was confused by these words
Though
it mattered not
I
was to see my Faelleann in life, again.
I polished
my death scarred armour
My
cloak dyed the richest red
From
the root of the finest Madder,
My
sword gleamed in the sunlight
The
pommels dragons smiled their deadly smile,
For
I was going home to Kernow
And
I stood motionless, waiting by the shore.
The
mist came, billowing in impatience
Shrouding
the rippled glass of the dividing sea,
I stepped
into its miasmic soup
Hollow
eyes from a world long dead
Ethereal
yet threatening,
Followed
my journey to flesh
My
shadowbody became whole.
I
stepped from the mist
A living,
breathing man… I turned
The
mist of Avalon had gone,
No
dog barked, nobody ran from me
A wraith
of dread no more.
Bel
had given me power
A Godlike
energy with each powerful step,
The
lush grass of the meadow
The
hum of a myriad of bees,
The
raucous arguing rooks
All
proclaiming my return
Dirwrwolf
of Tregiffian was home.
Faelleann
appeared, running, her hair trailing free
Her
tears of joy as I stood, sword and shield stowed,
Her
mighty warrior and husband was back
The
children gazed terrified, to them I was ghost,
A phantom,
a killer of the living
The
wet nurse ushered them back into the hall.
I
tried to walk forward toward her
But
my feet were heavy, becoming ensnared,
I
looked down and my boots were sprouting snakelike
Digging
into the earth,
My
arms were taken from my control
As
outstretched my fingers began to grow.
Twisting
and changing colour
Becoming
scaly and brown,
My
cry of anguish and pain
Held
Faelleann at a distance transfixed in horror.
“Do not come any closer my
darling Faelleann
For you will die with me….
I returned to say once
more
I love you,
My darling I love you.”
My
last words were strangled
As
the skin on my neck tightened
And
turned to bark, gnarled and flaking.
My
tears ran as sap
“NO!!”
The
agonized scream wrenched from the trunk
As
Faelleann in her dread and despair
Leapt
into my harsh, wooden embrace
And
sobbing, wrapped her self around me
Saying
“We will never part again
my love”
Her
arms transformed into serpents
A grayish,
smooth and wooden serpent
Each
squeezing my bark encrusted carcass,
Spiraled
and twisted, a deathly embrace,
Our
faces, barely movable, touched in a kiss.
We
stayed in a kiss of death
A rigor
of lovers kissing for the last time,
My
eyes crusted and hollowing watched
As
leaves sprouted from us both.
We
are one, we are immovable love
Our
fruit of apples brings love to the world.
So
here we stand, held together in a lovers embrace
Together
in Sun, wind, snow and rain
Lover’s
eternal, in a deathly courtship.
Ages
pass and lovers sit beneath my creaking limbs
With
hopes and dreams, forever lovers
They
know not, that where they shade
Are
the remains of Kernows first lovers.
“In death we are united
As in life we held in each
others arms
The true meaning of love,
Entwined
Forever”
Phil
Hall June 2013
