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Samhain Spree
Come, gather underneath the horns
_That rise out of the east!
Come, join the host in revelry
_To frolic, sing, and feast!
The winter is upon us now,
_And summer gone away,
And we have gathered at the henge
_To romp, carouse, and play.
The temple has no roof or walls,
_It opens to the night,
With nothing but these ancient stones
_To hide our secret rite.
The doors are open once again,
_Between the tangent spheres,
And souls are free to come and go
_While order disappears.
Tonight, we ride in ecstasy,
_While mortals faint with dread.
For as we always come and go,
_Tonight, so do their dead.
A witching night! A wicked night!
A night of humming wings!
A night for all us fairy folk
_To do outrageous things!
We’ll chase each other up and down
Around the countryside,
Cut laundry lines, tie wooly knots,
_Leave stables open wide.
Break porcelain, make fingerprints
In butter, bread, and cheese,
Hide brooches, pins, and wedding rings
_Wherever we may please.
Our mad cavorting will awake
_The hounds at gates and doors,
And baying will be heard throughout
The villages and moors.
All through the land we’ll hoot and howl
_And play our magic pranks,
The rampage will be lots of fun
_So join our jolly ranks!
Before the dawn we shall return
_To our old meeting place,
And dance once more around the stones—
_Then fly and leave no trace.
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Patricia Rogers Crozier has been published in The Washington Post. She holds a B.S. in Physics from Mississippi College. She resides in Gulf Breeze, Florida and works at Publix. She is the winner of the 2024 SCP International Poetry Competition.
I’m reminded of Mercutio recounting the mischievous shenanigans of Queen Mab. Great stuff, Patricia.
Thank you very much! And thanks to your comment I went back and read “Queen Mab,” it had been a while.
Patricia, I love this capricious poem of Samhain and Stonehenge which you so perfectly reduced to “Henge.” What a perfect rhyme and flow to the lines as I sailed through it like a witch departing on a broom. I know Samhain is a Gaelic festival marking the conclusion of harvest and is celebrated the night of Halloween, October 31st, which carries into November 1st.I am going to save this poem for that occasion. I am greatly enamored with your poem and the exciting word images you inserted! This is a classic!
Thank you for your thoughtful comment! The poem is certainly out of season, it didn’t start out as a Samhain poem but that’s where it ended up.
A wild frenzy of ghosts and spirits, done in lovely tetrameter-trimeter quatrains! The rhythmic flow and the solidly masculine endings make it a sustained chant, just right for the occasion.
Thank you! It was fun to write.
A telling tale of “tangent spheres” and tricks that may transpire when it’s time for interchange between them. Alliteration is just enough to be spell-like, and the threats are mere transient vexations, like enough to be blamed on fairy folk by country folk who can deal with them, or even take part in them as the charmed transition time passes. I recall a solstice visit to Stonehenge (when the place is usually closed and guarded for fear of unofficial druids). The few of us allowed in as evening fell had to sign promises not to chant or throw liquids on the stones, but we could hug and kiss them!
That is very interesting that the solstice admission was so strict, what year did you go? I went in 2022 and it was a free-for-all, dancing, drumming, and there was cloud of dope smoke hovering over the stones the entire night! There were even food trucks. If I recall correctly, only three people were arrested, which seemed like a surprisingly low number!
I think my visit was in 2008, and certainly before the new Visitor Centre opened. At that time, there was an effort to keep the view over the plain uncluttered by anything modern. Visitors had to enter through a building that was partly sunk into the ground. There was only a tiny car park. Most visitors arrived by bus and had to walk around the stones at a considerable distance. I can imagine the complaints!
There is a marvelous rhythm to this, Patricia!
Thank you!
If only! I loved this fast-paced frolic.