MORRIGAN’S SONG

MORRIGAN’S SONG, by Colleen Anderson

 

Breathe in the moist air, smell the land within it.

hear the movement of trees and animals all around

far away, in daylight, the eagle’s call pins the sky

deer ghost through the glen

ravens call into the night as they settle into sleep

you are before a cubby hole, a warren, a den

 

I become ink on the spill of darkness

tearing through the shroud

soaring over battlefields, beds of the slain

I pluck the souls and carry them back

Hear not pleas of salvation and supplication

I am a howl, a hungry cat, a carrion crow

 

You stand before Oweynagat, the cave of the cats

mist shrouds your sight, rain shivers your soul

cold bites deeper than any bitter tears

you will travel far beneath earth’s skin

the cavern’s dark mouth opens, takes you in

It is a hole, a pit, an abyss.

 

Dripping water echoes, your only anchor

as you slide into the otherworld

on your back, unable to change your destiny

light dims as you glide deeper, frozen

you are alone in the earth’s damp belly

you are a corpse, a worm, an embryo.

 

In complete blackness an ember glows

golden light grows, becomes stronger, enticing

you do not need eyes to see the brightness

that gathers and spins, like the galaxy

you do not need hands to touch it

You are a spark, a flame, a spirit

 

In between the beginnings of life and death,

I anchor you in this humid enclosure, a cauldron

in the darkest times I stir memory and remorse

mixing strength into the vessel in which you reside

tasting all as you are made and remade

you are a silhouette, a shadow, a shade

I collect you, I cannot save you, I am the Morrigan

 

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Colleen Anderson’s over 200 pieces of fiction and poetry are in such venues as Chilling Tales, Evolve, Exile Book of New Canadian Noir and Cemetery Dance. She has been an Aurora nominee in poetry, received honorable mentions in the Year’s Best anthologies and is in Imaginarium and Best of Horror Library Vol. 1-5. Some of her new works will be in Nameless, Burning Maiden, Shoreline of Infinity, OnSpec, and Pantheon.

www.colleenanderson.wordpress.com