Beltane 2013 - a reading (on YouTube)
The season starts with a slaughter, ripened lives plucked in
bunches like fresh strawberries until red runnels indelibly stain the hands of
the gods. His winged companions ambushed by forces of light and darkness,
mighty Oberon slouches upon his throne, lord of a silent kingdom. Tiny chimes
give voice to the restless air as belled and chained faeries sing for Beltane
to set them free.
A host of faeries disguised as dragonflies flit and flitter
among the clouds of insects that serenade the river flowing through glen.
Sunlight glints off their armor beneath tabards of lavender, pink and yellow
fluttering like an army of wildflowers celebrating the wind. Beneath a banner
bright as shamrock, they pluck harp strings spun from daffodils and beat a war
drum purple with a pair of thistle heads.
With crystal swords and pinfeather arrows, they prepare for
battle, arrayed against the storm of winter's final, desperate cold defense. As
pipers call a dancing tune, the army surges forward, a cacophony of color
sprouting in its wake as each rapier pinprick melts another foe. Horns of honey
wine and nectar overflow in victory as the ice queen retreats into a babbling
brook and the snow queen melts to May.
© 2013 Edward P. Morgan III
