Tuesday, 4 October 2022

Poetry and meditation




I came across an interesting essay on the relationship between meditation and poetry. See below

https://www.daraghbyrnepoetry.com/posts/poetryandmindfulness

Someone once gave me a bag of runes and I used them as a meditation tool. Each rune came with a description or a piece of advice and from this I wrote a poem on each. Here are a few. For details about the origins of runes follow the link below.

https://norse-mythology.org/runes/the-meanings-of-the-runes/

Blank Odin

 

Strung up by his heels Odin hung

for nine nights from Yggdrasil

self-drained from Self until he saw

the word reflected in the water.

 

Now is the time to leave behind

to pass through

to come to

a new beginning

that is also an end

to what you already know.

 

Nauthiz-Constraint

 

Repair your saddle

and tie up the horse.

There'll be no ride today.

For the horse is lame

And there's mist on the moor

And no knowing where you're going.

 

It's time to muck out and clean tack

the bridle,bit and saddle

And think about why

the horse is lame

and you are held back


EHWAZ- Protection

 

You feel all and think nothing

You can't act now

For the mirror is blurred

And you're breathing too fast

And your head's in a spin.

 

It's time to lie low

It's time to listen

For the warning rustle of sedge grass

Or become like elk with curved horn -

For both keep open the space around you.

 

Wunjo- Joy

 

You have shifted on your own axis

and aligned yourself with yourself.

The deluge that was damned up

can now flow

Generous in the knowledge of its own stillness.

Blow out the candles

and cut the cake.

The time is now

and you are ready.

 

ANSUZ-Signals

 

Draw from the well and drink now

For the desert is far and the journey long

And you are on the brink

of a new beginning.

 

Unlikely sources point the way

Shakespeare's fools, idiots, madmen

who jabber and jest

Signs for you to unscramble.

 

But be careful

or you will miss the moment

Dismiss it as irrelevent.

When all the time

It is timely and sacred.


Copyright 2022 Cathy Leonard All rights reserved

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