Poetry

Hiraeth

/ A. Gouedard / Leave a comment

is it where i am going ?
or the place from which i came?
a place i knew so long ago
but a mirage to me now
and life is not the same
it’s a dream that pulls me
i don’t know why or where
or how to reach my hand to it
or which path to take
no path can take me there
i don’t know what to do
it’s an island out to sea,
a lake of deep reflections,
a far horizon, faded blue,
twisting at my memory
its fingers stroke my soul
with the echo of an ache,
a phantom of a sigh
held deep inside my chest.
i am not where i belong,
an exile from a land
that hides behind a shadow
in the wistfulness of song
when it turns to minor key
and melts so far away
in mournful, tender harmony.
without it i am homesick
for something i cant name
its at the heart of me
wistful, so, so, wistful
i think my heart will break
if i don’t close my eyes
and slowly turn away

****************
Hiraeth is a Welsh word with no direct translation
Sometimes defined vaguely as nostalgia, wistfulness, longing, “a homesickness for a home you cannot return to, or that never was”. But nothing can quite sum it up. I know exactly how it feels but naming it is something else.

Hiraeth bears similarities with the Portuguese concept of saudade (a key theme in Fado music), Brazilian Portuguese “banzo” (more related to homesickness), Turkish gurbet, Galician morriña, Romanian dor.

Invitation to a Dream

/ A. Gouedard / Leave a comment

The sun enthroned at its height
gleaming gold, glorious light
now falls away to gentle pink
to greet the starlit night.

Gentle hands and dancing feet
fling open wide the door
between the worlds.
You are summoned to the circle.

Take the woodland paths
push aside your cares
hurry to the gathering
join us at the hill.

Fear not Pan nor Oberon
gaze on fair Titania.
Peaspod, Cobweb, Puck,
all await you here

Come to us, we who know,
all are not exactly as they seem
throw aside disbelief
open wide the dream.

Changes

/ A. Gouedard / Leave a comment

the seasons keep on turning
i gather wood for flame

i think i see you leaving
this time last year you came

the time for winter fires
is never twice the same

this time it may be sorrow
where it was joy before

all the things I had last year
i see i have no more

i remind myself again
to fill the winters store

we must live to journey on
together or apart

i gather all that i may need
before the dark days start

there’s safety in the cellar
and in the hollowed heart

Birthdays

/ A. Gouedard / 1 Comment

when a person has a birthday
how ever old they are
you think about a child
and all the gifts they crave
with all the world spread out ahead
wishing on a star

but later on in life,
you start to realise
it’s not about the birthday gifts
you only wish for greetings
from loved ones flung afar
all the distant family
and all the friends you made
just to see them smile again
though they are in the grave

it’s hard to have a party
when the guests are gone away
and you are the last of them
to linger here and stay

you watch the children gather
you offer them some cake
you smile and laugh and bless them
and linger for their sake

The Circle II

/ A. Gouedard / Leave a comment

Though we see their faces no more
those who have left us speak to us still
and always will. We hear their wise words,
when we are left far behind on the shore.
Recalled by the friends and family
and all who love them before
we can hear their voices speak in our hearts.
We do not part. They speak from our Ancestors halls.

Where one season ends another begins
as nature shows us again and again.
We pass through our spring and our summer
and the golden gathering time of the Fall.
Winter is not an endless cold season.
There is a journey ahead. No end at all.

Build

/ A. Gouedard / 1 Comment

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “The Fun Platform.”

The question here was ”If you were the new leader of your country and had the chance to transform something that’s currently an annoyance (or worse) into a very fun activity, what would it be? How would you go about the change, and why would you choose that particular thing?”

I think one of many possible answers is that I find the slow response to our housing crisis MORE than annoying and many things could be done about that but the FUN version would be in helping, guiding and to some extent assisting and certainly encouraging people to get involved in building their own homes and helping each other to do so as this has some advantages

  1. the houses would be more expressive of peoples creative selves
  2. the owners would have far more understanding about how the house works when it comes to maintenance
  3. they could look into ways to make living in their home cheaper (re power etc) and this would be ecologically enlightening
  4. The whole exercise would be empowering and many skills would be learned and people would be truly proud of their neighbourhood
  5. If people built their own houses and neighbours were all helping each other to do so (which did use to be the case) a community would be built in the process, as well as the houses

I do not suggest that this should be the only solution to our housing crisis but it would be nice if it was encouraged rather than obstructed as much as it is in the UK now

The Fun Platform

The Circle

/ A. Gouedard / Leave a comment

I look to the East at the sunrise
and the day, shining, awake,
the dew falls on the grass
I think of all  we can make

I look to the South for warmth
where fire burns and renews
and the noon of day and completion of youth
and my heart opens, eager for truth

To the North I look to the sky
and the pattern of stars in the dark
seeing the light that shines, long after they’re dead,
from one strong kindling spark

I look to the West and the rivers that flow
remembering the salmons leap
and have faith in all we can do
and all of life’s treasures we keep

as the wheel turns and turns again
the centre remains ever still
one fixed point that sustains us all
to do whatever we will

I stand at the centre at last
to feel my own soul and know
that future, present and past
are all a repeating flow

I stand at the heart of a circle
my heart warmed by the sun
aware of the world that’s around me
beginning and end are all one

and where many circles overlap
and all of them intertwine
a wondrous, eternal flower is formed
of all the worlds souls, and mine

Cheating Fool

/ A. Gouedard / Leave a comment

a man is a fool when he thinks he can master
with lies, false semblance and trickery
the hearts of many women
he fails to hear all their sisterly whispers
behind closed doors and windows

a man is a fool when he thinks he can master
the hearts of a harem of women
self-deluded by his own shallow charms
he will find he is on a lonely old path
and his harm will be to himself

a man is a fool if he thinks he can master
the minds of many women
the sadness in this is the innocent hurt
those poor girls in love with a fool
may he drown in a pool of their tears

a man is a fool when he thinks he can master
many women on one hidden leash
the days will come, again and again,
when he ties himself up, in a tangled rope,
to finally hang his own soul on a tree
and swing in a sorry wind

Sorrow

/ A. Gouedard / Leave a comment

the dark is full of shining stars
the moon will fade tomorrow

the morning sun is coming up
these things are sure as turning fate
but i can only sit and wait
the night will surely follow

the house is there but we are not
no fire burns within the grate
now the hour is growing late
home and my heart are hollow

no matter how the birds may sing
I sit here full of sorrow