The Cradle of Daron

Palms open to carry

the earth song of seedlings

reach toward the sun

to summon light to bless

infant oak soon to be

cradled in the soft loam

of Daron’s breast.

Women of the wild have

left their song of mourning

to lift their voices to sing

of spring wind, rain, and

limbs to nest wing and feather.

In the dust bowl of war

women rise in peace to bring

hope from acorns that don’t

build walls or weapons, but

root to grow shade for communion.

Tree Sisters hear the womb cry

of ashes and plant dreams

of trunk and limb in faith what

man has scorched will be

resurrected in breathing forests.

©Susie Clevenger 2018

Oak

The oak tree features prominently in many Celtic cultures. The ancient geographer Strabo (1st century AD) reported that the important sacred grove and meeting-place of the Galatian Celts of Asia Minor, Drunemeton, was filled with oaks. In an often-cited passage from Historia Naturalis (1st century AD), Pliny the Elder describes a festival on the sixth day of the moon where the druids climbed an oak tree, cut a bough of mistletoe, and sacrificed two white bulls as part of a fertility rite. Britons under Roman occupation worshipped a goddess of the oak tree, Daron, whose name is commemorated in a rivulet in Gwynedd. 

Real Toads ~ Wordy Thursday
&
Poets United ~ Poetry Pantry #387