It was the Spring Equinox this week here on the South coast of Africa, and this acted as an inspiration for me to compose a poem. It uses the myths of Odin and Osiris as subject matter.
Both these two gods, one Viking Norse and one Egyptian, echo the theme of death and rebirth. They suggest death as a fertilizer of life, hint at the return of Spring and life after the death of winter.
They also allude to the death of this body as a doorway to the other side, to the fields of paradise or the life hereafter.
Image: https://pixabay.com/photos/coffee-cup-vikings-odin-smoke-4784795/
I use religious myth and legend as well as any esoteric traditions, as my primary subject matter for all my poetry.
I also prefer this structured rhyme and meter, so that the poem can be sung, like a ballad.
This is the first poem I've written in many months, and is the first of my new project to compile twenty or more poems in total, for this series.
Life blood of the slain gods
Alone i hung for nine long days My head enraptured in your maze I died to live and live to die Inverted with my feet on high
Dismembered in the fields i lay In fourteen bits among the hay To never see the light of day Till golden dawn lit up my way
As son of Sky and Earth entwined My death will fertilize your mind New life i bring to desert fields Dry earth now calls for sky to yield
My sacrifice - austerity My blood to feed the liber tree With leaves like pages blossoming As i relive the rite of Spring
Return me to the field of reeds My heart a feather's weight of deeds Return my raven memory And let my soul once more fly free
My death will bring a life renewed A desert storm with rain subdued Your breath of life my second sight My heart returns to you tonight