Dubthach Versus the Druid
much is made of your father
Dubthach
how you lived with him and worked
in his dairy
how you gave away his splendid
things
his gold his sword
his butter and meat
but what of the druid
who bought from him
your pregnant mother
your birth on his threshold
his care as you grew
was he not the true father
of your childish heart
did not his love of gods
obedience to sun and earth
his store of lore and genealogy
shape your vision of your world
give you perfect apprehension
of this sacred pagan place
if in time you drank
from another cup
where a Son
not the Sun
predominates
were you not still at ease
in flesh and heart
among the spirits
of land and beasts
so the oaks embrace you
you know the fox’s speech
the snowdrop lifts its head
where you have trod
in you they recognize
the blood of one
who lives upon the limen
walks in bright accord
with sanctity
Copyright: Casey June Wolf (2015).
Image: "The mountains known as the Twelve Bens in Connemara at sunset." By No
machine-readable author provided. Morna assumed (based on copyright claims).
[GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons
