St Melangell
By onemorething
- 927 reads
St Melangell rested
on the purity of cold stone,
with the forbearance
of a Yew tree, evermore hollow
with age. And this evergreen
has enough shade to veil
any fugitive or eremite
beneath its needled skirts.
In this saint's valley,
there is no horn for a hunter,
no bloody prize - only prayers
of thorn and thicket that fold
themselves into the land and
the hares gathered
into her innocent robes.
And if you, too, build a church
to solitude, bury the departed
below a Yew's poisoned branches
and its seeds of suicide; no one
can die more than once in sleep.
Sometimes I have lived
as though I was dead,
in patience for the remedy
of love, a wait for the comfort
of safety, I have hoped
for the stillness of peace.
Though here, fleshy arils
will feed the living -
the mistle thrush and waxwing,
and Melangell will tend her lambs,
undesecrated and untainted,
because you cannot be a virgin
twice.
Quick summary of St Melangell: she fled a proposed marriage in Ireland to Wales where she lived as a recluse, apparently sleeping on a rock and in caves. One day she was praying in a thicket, there was a hunt, when the hunters reached her, the hare was safe wrapped in her robes, when one of the hunter's tried to blow his horn, it stuck to his lips. The hunting Prince was so moved by this scene that he gave her land to build a church where she lived until she died towards the end of the 6th century AD. The church, like many, was built on a Bronze Age burial site with a grove of Yew trees. Yew trees, as you know, are often found in graveyards. They are entirely poisonous apart from the red flesh of the arils - which someone tried to make me test once and I refused... I think one or two Celtic warriors ate the seeds to commit suicide rather than be captured by the Romans. Oh, and, there is an old tale that if you sleep under a Yew, you'll die... I think that's enough explanation for a poem! Sorry!
Image is from here: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brooklyn_Museum_-_California_Hare_-_John_J._Audubon.jpg and on Twitter: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Illustration_Taxus_baccata0.jpg
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Comments
Haunting and beautiful in a
Haunting and beautiful in a melancholy way. Interesting history I wasn't aware of as well. History is my thing.
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Oh I was transported by this!
Oh I was transported by this! The contrasts and the earthy touch of it is intoxicating. I wish I was as empathetic and as inspired by old tales. I love how you flesh out the details.
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Another fascinating and
Another fascinating and informative poem from you Rachel.
Jenny.
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Another excellent poem that
Another excellent poem that emphasises your artistry, Rachel.
I like the clever interpolation of the yew, with its connotations of death and renewal, into the legend.
My best wishes, Luigi x
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