Today’s Poetry Selection: “Blodeuwedd”

The owls hooting outside my window on these long, dark winter nights reminded me of this poem, which is based on a tale from the Welsh Mabinogi. You can find this selection and many of my other poems in the collection “Purple Roses & Other Poems,” available through Amazon.com.  This Wikipedia entry summarizes the story: Blodeuwedd. I include it here so that those with no knowledge of the tale may better understand the poem.

Blodeuwedd

The wind sighs through the browning, brittle leaves
dark and withered under threatening sky
The owl calls ‘who?’; her question pierces
the heart and soul of this lonely place.
We know her, this lady called Blodeuwedd
the flower-face, Hag-Maiden of the Night
she queries us with the age-old questions,
plaintively asking us who we are.
We barely fathom the place she lingers,
balanced upon the threshold of forever,
begging response and calling out riddles,
the answers as elusive as she.
How can we know Blodeuwedd’s lonely plight,
vanquished to haunt the shadows forever,
slipping through mists on flowery wings,
remembering Lleu once called her his queen?
Meadowsweet, with her brightly blazing eyes
peering through the night, penetrating stare.
Gwydion’s wrath might seem justice, but
who can know the heart of a flower?

© 1999, C. Leigh McGinley