Saturday, December 2, 2017

Jack Scott writes

Camino en Montana

Motes in a forest 

candled by sunlight, 
suspended and still, 
ambered in honey. 
Rapt by the spell 
I drove toward my future. 
Cuervo peligroso! 
It rushed toward me. 
I came to know forest 
from just one tree.
 Magpie -- Rick Bartow

1 comment:

  1. Cuervo peligroso! Dangerous crow!

    Corvids (crows, ravens, and other similar birds) have often been rightfully regarded in folklore as clever beings. O the Celts they were divine messengers or manifestations of the gods. Bendigeidfran or Brân Fendigaidd ("Blessed Crow")was a giant king of Prydein (the medieval Welsh term for part of Britain south of Caledonia) who, mortally wounded, ordered his kin to cut off his head and return it to his kingdom; for 7 years his severed head continued to talk before it was buried on the Gwynfryn (the "White Hill" where the Tower of London now stands; ravens are still kept there by the Yeomen Warder Ravenmaster). It was buried facing France to ward off invasion, but king Arthur had it dug up, declaring that the nation would be protected by his strength alone. The Morrígan ("phantom queen") was a trinity of Irish sisters associated with sovereignty, the land, livestock, war and fate, especially with foretelling doom and death in battle -- in this latter role she often appeared as a crow, the sister known as Badb. The major Germanic deity Odin was the "raven god" who was attended by Hugin and Munin, two ravens who whispered news into his ears. Various Native American tribes believed that Raven created the earth or mankind or placed the sun in the sky.

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