Patricia M Osborne

Solstice Blessings to you all. And I know I do it every year, but here it is again, my poem, Sacred Tree to celebrate Winter Solstice. We can look forward to the days getting lighter.

Sacred Tree – Winter Solstice

In a subtle seduction,
Oak welcomes
Mistletoe’s seed.

Evening reddens
the sky as drums beat
to a crescendo.

Entering the grove of oaks,
wreath-crowned druids process
in gold, white, red,
clutching staffs.

One trails, bent,
a stringy silver beard falls
to his knees. He rings a bell.

Seers surround
the sun-god tree,
ivory candles ignite
one by one,
flames flit
in the breeze,
shadows flutter.

Drums mute.
Crickets chirp.
A snowy owl screeches
from a distant trunk.
Heads rise.
Deep breaths echo.

Priest, in white, ascends
the oak, unsheathes
the golden sickle strapped
to his back,
lops the stem
bearing milk berries.

Brothers clothed in gold catch
the twig in a cloak.

Drums pulsate,
beasts bellow,
eyes focus
on two white bulls
led by the horns.

A red-robed butcher
grips his blade, slits
one bull’s throat
and then the other.
Crimson gore spurts
into the vessels,
metallic stench rises.

Drums cease.

Mistletoe glazed
with bulls’ blood
is blessed, offered
before the altar.

Sun-god’s gift of semen
is embraced
by the earth goddess.

Sacred Tree was published in Ink Drinkers Poetry Magazine – Folklore (2021) and later in my poetry collection Spirit Mother: Experience the Myth published by The Hedgehog Poetry Press.

You can read more poems on folklore from Ink Drinkers Poetry HERE

And you can purchase a signed copy (limited edition) of Spirit Mother HERE

If you go to It’s About Time HERE you can find out more about the ancient ritual and see pictures.