The spirits are abroad this bleak Ysbrydnos
But I do not fear the Yr Hwch Ddu Gwta
I have a myriad other things to scare me tonight
Because my own grim thoughts now gather.
Oh, I would love to dance with the Twyleth Teg
And listen to their joyful music & laughter
Among the tall dark green trees of the Cwm
That point with fingers like the sky's rafters
I'd call on that magical dwelling of youth & faery
And the wonderful land of Nog always would answer.
But this fuliginous shade is not smoke from our fires
It is a twilight of the mind & an ignorant disaster.
The spirits are abroad this bleak Ysbrydnos
But it is the nescience of the mortals that I fear...
Author notes
Nos Calan Gaeaf: Welsh Gaelic for 'New Years Eve' (October 31st to the ancient Celts)
I dedicate this to the Twyleth Teg & people with magick & imagination in their hearts everywhere.
Comments
1 - 13 of 13
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I shall come back to this when I go look in my library and find the meanings of your Celtic words. I like to be put in a position where my knowlegde is lacking. Life is a learning curve. I like this structure, a non rhyming sonnet?
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The Hwch Ddu Gwta is a large supernatural hog (hwch) that supposedly walks on New Years Eve (Nos=Night Calan=eve Gaeaf=year) the Twyldd/Twyleth teg are the Welsh fairy women (pronounced tu-leth teg), Ysbrydnos means Spirit night or Halloween. Cwm (cum) is a valley & the land of Nog (youth) often called Tir na Nog is the Celtic otherworld.
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I like this and I like the use of "abroad" for obvious reasons;
think it's very funny that two of your commenters have picked on it. This reminds me a bit of Robert Frost's "Desert Places" with a Welsh twist. I agree with the concept that it is the stupidity of humans that we have to fear - alas, alack, I am dismayed. Too bad you don't throw this in some of these Samhain/Halloween contests to get a little more exposure and give the hosts a thrill.
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Sounds like someone who just
lost a bundle in the stock market. In this age that's an ultimate frightner. Dancing with the Twyleth Teg is the blessing for the lost when panic receeds into dispair. T'is me favorite ball. I dance also in the choking smog unaware it's the poisoin of my own conjuring. "The spirits are rampent this..." sounds better to me than "abroad", given it's association with archaric Heldery and alco adds a little joke about the Big Black Sow/Headless Crone on the old family crest. Thanks for the word -fuliginous-. I've been looking for a word to describe my concept of smog Jinni. I think fulijinnious will do nicely. I am back in school with too much to read and write so my efforts and communication at AP suffer. Cheers, WW
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Yeah, cheers for that. I may overhaul the poem in the future. I think the idea is a good one, but it needs a little polishing. I have written about 4 poems recently. I managed to break my 'dry' spell. Well ... apart from the fact that I'm back in it! LOL
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Great work! Scared the sheet out of me.
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It is a bit scary ... I admit. Not as scary as mixing Cider & Lager in the same glass though.
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The Shining Ones!
Awesome poem, and a beautiful evocation of spirits-of-place.
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Well, thanks ... I thought it didn't flow as well as I wanted & the ironic twist wasn't too apparent at the end. The Hwch (Hog) Ddu Gwta is a huge supernatural black sow (often accompanied by a headless woman) that roams the valleys on Nos Calan Gaeaf & scares the living shit out of the Welsh. I first heard about this when I lived in the Cynon valley. They don't even like saying the name out aloud. It scares the crap out of me as well! Ysbrydnos just means spirit night. The Twyleth Teg as you probably know are the faery folk of Gaelic legend.
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You can keep working on this, and improve it. In the first stanza, I wondered if 'abroad' is a bit archaic here? I think if you assume a more relaxed voice, from the start, it would help the flow.
Something like
spirits are moving through bleak Ysbrdynos -
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Erm..... I was sort of going for the archaic sound with abroad. I may totally rewrite it, keeping the basic idea but changing the form. It may be more of a follow up to this one.
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Definitely gives it a Gothic feel, but I was more taken with the contrast to now; the presence, in our 21st century world, of Them.
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Yeah, I see what you're saying. I just thought the archaism contrasted well with the caveat at the last line.
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