Acquiescence

In 2010, I was in a fierce mental and physical battle against health and work issues and it was hard to make sense of the challenges I was facing. It was a very dark time for me and I was called to work with The Morrigan, I suspect to bring forth more of my inner warrior. As part of that, I built an altar for Her under a 200-year-old oak tree in my back yard. Crows nested in it and I'd fed them for years, so they weren't too skittish around me. They sat in the lower branches, 15 or 20 at a time, and chattered away while I assembled the altar and contemplated life. I was always asking them, "What are you chattering about up there? Tell me something worthwhile, please!" They'd caw, caw, caw in response but I never got much clarity from it!

I wrote this poem in one brief sitting. Although I like to write something poetic every now and then, I am not a poet. I read this now and it feels choppy, but that was me back then. Life has moved and my path has taken me in another direction, and I remain grateful for my time with Her. It was... illuminating.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy.

Acquiescence

The Dark Mare will not be denied;
Insistent gallop through my dreams.
The murder, flown in hallowed dust,
Alight on high with plots and schemes.

From lofty perch in canopy,
Cascade their cryptic words
Unbidden to my restless ear.
What say you, kindred birds?

I listen, rapt, to hear naught save
Veiled augury of passion.
Perchance, to mutter arcane prose
Akin to mine own fashion?

Yet still, o ruffled fiends, you mock,
Allude to destiny unknown.
Pray not forget your coal black sister
Bears stout burden of her own!

In frenzied past, I plucked the down,
Cast out the proffered feather.
Enlightened thus, now gather, sew
Plumed cloak to brook all weather.

As trembling needle binds the parts,
Beloved jesters, testify!
Your proclamations I do seek.
Reveal! Divinity draws nigh?

Assured or not, with onyx fringe
And hopeful sigh I fall to knee
At altar set with baited breath
Beneath the Black Queen's teeming tree.

Kim Cairelle Perilloux, 2010

Kim Cairelle Perilloux, "Acquiescence," in By Blood, Bone, and Blade: A Tribute to the Morrigan (Second Edition), ed Nicole Bonvisuto (Bibliotheca Alexandrina, 2014) 91-92.