Scribing words to call the music in your soul
Old Cailleach’s bite blustery cold,
Her cloak shimmering frosted snow,
A shivering welcome hiding spring
Home warms the soul.
© 2023, Maggie Grimes
The painting is of Brandon Hill, Co Kilkenny. I have to say the cottage is my creation but I wanted a warm haven from the snow and cold of December and January. MJG
Oh the years
Taunting and capricious
As the wind,
I am young
Maid innocent
Beauty fresh,
Years stretching
Endlessly hopeful
Invincible,
Oh the years
Taunting and capricious
As the wind,
Eager wife
A husband joining
Consuming passion births,
Heart, belly, breasts
So full and nurturing
Matronly duties mine,
Oh the years
Taunting and capricious
As the wind,
A crone’s reflection
Haunts me
Gnarled hands wringing,
Squandered now
The maiden’s hope
The matron’s fecund gifts,
Oh the years
Taunting and capricious
As the wind,
Water, soil, air
Souls fouled by greed and malice
Reap a poisoned harvest,
A new day dawns
Its terrible beauty birthing
Storm, disease and fire,
Oh the years
Taunting and capricious
As the wind,
I watched my children
Long these years
Life so full and fleeting,
Roaming, building
Casting aside
To build anew,
Oh the years
Taunting and capricious
As the wind,
A savage maid
Matron, crone
Await,
My heart breaks
But hope remains
The future beauty holding.
© 2023 Maggie Grimes
I felt the need to revisit an earlier poem, a restatement of their voices. In ancient times we lived in harmony and balance with the natural world. We respected Nature and our place in it. We have forgotten these truths. MJG
The adventure approaches
Drawing close
Anticipation and chaos
Handfast in preparation
Heart yearning for home
Yet hard to leave
Roots strain across the water
Inviting
Dreams can alter, grow
And not be lost
Her voices call me
Ireland.
© 2023, Maggie Grimes
The painting was inspired by a photo of Benbulbin by CarverPhotograpy. I look at it and it is easy to think of Ireland. It invites an adventure. MJG
Summer’s pyre
Flaming against a crystal sky
Winds whirling
Feeding, scattering
Dying flames
Of promise,
Cailleach’s cloak
Of brief splendor
Woven from summer’s bounty
Death’s bright herald
To welcome winter’s sleep
By glorious revel.
© 2022, Maggie Grimes
The painting was inspired by a photos of Foley’s Bridge in County Down, Northern Ireland. MJG
Summer’s ripe,
Days loath the yielding to night
So rousing early,
Old Bridey stirs,
She’ll be out soon
Tending her day,
If she sees me,
Mist soft
She’ll speak,
She’ll wish me good morn,
Then share the village gossip
As she works,
Bridey will remind me
I must leave her hens alone,
I always do (unless they stray),
We are comfortable together,
Old bones warming in the sun
With our shared memories,
Our babes born and grown,
Seeking their own adventures
Still loved and missed,
Stretching I rise,
Knowing Bridey’s Blessing
I stalk the hidden mouse.
© 2022, Maggie Grimes
I look at a lot of photos of Ireland which inspires much of my art and poetry. One was of a fox which reminded me of the one that I sometimes see. We share quiet communications in our solitary tasks; I tending the horse and the fox its survey for it’s lawful prey. We are comfortable with the other’s presence. MJG
Little springtime
Are Nature’s blessings
That brush aside
Winter’s tousled hair
Clearing her wild eyes,
Brief, bright moments
Of stolen sweetness
And cherished warmth
While harsh winter rests
Her frigid labors,
Such stillness calls
The battered spirits
From their struggles
To bask reveling
In warm caresses,
Little springtimes
Are Nature’s blessings
Intimacies
When Earth delights
In shivering pleasure.
© 2021 Maggie Grimes
The first of February is celebrated as Imbolc, the beginning of spring. Although Brighid, Dagda’s daughter is bright and eager for fresh beginnings, frigid Cailleach doesn’t let go easily. Still, early blooms peep through the snow, eager for life. MJG
Implacable in her hunger
The Old Woman tightens her coils,
Nature smothered
To whispered pleas ,
Hypnotic power in her gaze
The Old Woman paralyzes,
Nature entrapped
By sunless time,
Arrogant, pitiless power
The Old Woman consumes,
Nature restrained
A new spring waits.
© 2020 Maggie Grimes
Cailleach is the winter goddess, often seen as a crone, older than time. Hers is the primal power of destruction which leads to renewal. One must endure the storms of winter to find spring. MJG.
The sun’s warming kiss
And soft mists rising
Beckon,
Morning calls
Wings stretch beating
Lift,
Rich the bonded years
Two and one together
Loving,
Silvered wings lifting
Our flighted wedge
Soaring,
Lonely skies to travel
Since his sweet song
Stilled,
The cygnets raised
Cared and guarded
Alone,
The sky calls
Wings to freedom
Lifting,
Duty met and love awaitng
The Otherworld
Inviting.
© 2020 Maggie Grimes
In Irish mythology and culture, the swan often symbolized love and fidelity. They usually mate for life. The swans are found in Irish mythology and are often associated with music and purity, able to travel between the mortal world and the Other. My painting was inspired by a photo by Ray McCann Photography. MJG.
Be still
Do you hear?
Listen, listen, listen!
The bright moon has risen
Silvering the mists,
Hear it now?
The music whispers
Like a wind rising
Wild, primal, calling
Horns sounding
Bells chiming
Hounds mournful baying
Ancient and chilling,
Fae Folk ride from their sidhe
The Wild Hunt comes,
I am not their prey
But tonight the moon calls
And I will play,
I will tangle the trail
Confounding the red earred hounds
Teasing with a glimpse of my tail
When they falter,
Circling and crisscrossing
Until they are confused
And exhausted,
Splashing down the streams
To lose my scent and backtrack
Taunting them with my laughing bark,
Stay home human,
I play tonight.
© 2020 Maggie Grimes
The Wild Hunt of the Fae Folk is a hunt for unwary humans. I suppose the lucky ones were taken back to the sidhe(although unlucky in that their mundane homes were lost to them). The photo of a fox in Fermoy, Co. Cork inspired my painting and then the fox just had to have her fun. MJG
Ocean winds blow
Foaming the waters
Lifting wings to hover
Then drop
Skimming the waves
Or diving into darkness
Seeking bounty,
Flesh and feather,
Earth born
But creature of sea and air.
© 2020 Maggie Grimes
The northern fulmar is a seabird seen throughout coastal Ireland. It nests among cliffs in summer but winters at sea. It is a relative of the albatross. My painting is inspired by a photo taken by Liam McNamara of “Ireland From My Lens Photography”. MJG
celtic singer 