Elegy for A Sidhe by Wendy Howee
If she passes
under cloven stone, shawled
with cobwebs and pink thrift,
the sea will hum
in mournful tides.
Her spirit will rise, drift
with the flight of birds
to Summerland fields.
There, she will rest
graceful lady in wild green—
her long hair trickling
into shadow, wind and grass, the cold
shimmer of dew.
And yet, her magic will be felt
in the bloom of plants
prompting fish to spawn
or that wishbone of light
looming between mountains
after a thunderstorm.
If she fades
as change splits the earth,
she’ll be transparent
in our tears, those raindrops
on a forest leaf
and pass into memory.
Her pale aura clinging
To all of us still
like rhyme to a poem
or yellow sands
to an island of sleep.
Bio
Wendy Howe is an English teacher and freelance writer who lives in Southern California. Her poetry reflects her interest in myth, diverse landscapes, and ancient cultures. Over the years, she has been published in an assortment of journals both on-line and in print. Among them: Gingerbread House Lit Magazine, Not One Of Us, Mirror Dance, Strange Horizons, Witches & Pagans Magazine, Goblin Fruit, Mythic Delirium, Coffin Bell, Corvid Queen, Liminality, The Poetry Salzburg Review, Eye To The Telescope, Eternal Haunted Summer and others. Her most recent work will be forthcoming in Silver Blade Magazine and Polu Texni later this year.
Author's note
"Elegy for A Sidhe" was inspired by an article I read called "The Sidhe And The Sith" which explored the different types of fairies regarding location of origin, character and relevance to ancient and present day cultures. With our planet currently in peril from climate change and other technological factors, I thought about the possible death of nature's creativity and our own imaginations being compromised. Yet, I realized that like the sidhe, the legacy of belief and enchantment transcends time and place. It still lives on in spirit and through stories that reach out to future generations. And when I hear the word, carmina, that idea of a transcendental magic and history comes to mind.
