Poetry

Odin Called To Me

Odin called to me
From far forgotten fathers
A soundless wind
Over the wilderness of my flesh

I shivered into a new era
At that moment of puncture
With the rush of my own blood
From the open palm of another
A stranger
A cloaked and hooded figure
What is beneath that broad rimmed hat?
Who is beneath that broad rimmed hat?

I wonder now alone
My ice is my raiment
Black on skin on bone
Bone on life on eternity
Walking towards the horizon
Everyone I know is dead
And I have loved again

Close my eyes and open one
Falling from falling from falling
Hold my hand I’m on my own
I did this to myself
I sacrificed eye

Odin am I?
As my father’s father’s father’s father’s
Ghost knew the breath of you
Upon his neck at the moment of defeat
That moment of his release

Why do you call me?
Why are you harrowing my peace
Your crow cries are harsh
Upon my solace
Rending and defleshing me

I do not want to know what I know!
How can I undo this initiation?
I have been spellbound by the bone flute
Must death fragrance my soul?

It’s all beginning again.

This was written in St Mary’s Church, Totnes, Devon, during a concert there by Erland Cooper during his title track ‘Carve the Runes and be Content With Silence.’ Solstice June 2024