Summer solstice poem:
NINE FLOWERS:
All kind gods that care for lovers,
Earth below and sky above
Help me heal my heart divided
Clear my mind to know my love.
Round my brow I bind three flowers
Innocence and mind and thought.
One for each of us three lovers
Joined within the spell I've wrought.
Nine more flowers I have gathered
Kind gift of the ancient land
Now I hold their scents and colours
Gathered in my trembling hand.
Little flower of dove and eagle
Shall we join or shall we part?
Five-spurred flower of love and courage
Patterned like the limner's art:
Shows the shape in painted petal
Innocent or foolish heart?
Drooping flower of the avens
Favour I would ask of you:
Flower that drives off doubt and darkness
Let our loves be pure and true.
Blue forget-me-not of streambank
Long I sought through grass to find:
Let my true loves not forget me
Keep me ever in their mind.
Carpeting the floor of forest
Bluebell echoing sky above
Add your portion to the pattern:
Gratitude and lasting love.
Toadflax with its snapping flower
Let my lovers bear in mind
I am young, and still a maiden:
Treat me gently and be kind.
Cornflower with your ragged petals
Healing bring from Mother Earth.
Ease old wounds of grief and sorrow,
Bear us comfort and rebirth.
Campion with your crimson blossoms
Comfort of a wavering mind
Let my lovers not lack courage
Welcome with me they will find.
Scabiosa, flower of healing
If I with my dears will bide
Shield our love from all misfortune
Turn not kinsmen from my side.
Orchid with your spotted flowers
Shaped like tender womans' parts
Light our lives with love and children
Keep the passion in our hearts!
Let the fern from others hide me
Constant as I take my rest.
Ere the dawn my loves shall find me
Broom and wild rose on my breast!
*The flowers mentioned, in order of verses, are:
Wild pansy, violet and field daisy in the wreath.
Columbine, Water Avens, Forget-me-not, Bluebell, Toadflax, Cornflower, Campion, Scabiosa, Marsh Orchid in the spell.
Wild Rose, Broom and Fern in the coda.