Element Poem by Nim Lee

Fire creature, Father Christmas
With flame red coat and white smoke beard
With the fire birds robin and king wren, the god-bird;
Here in the middle of winter, in the Dark Days,
You remind me of other climes,
Where Water Spirits writhed on the Spiritual Ground,
Swept by Mignell in her red, black and white dress,
Dancing backwards widdershins,
While the drum beats sounded and called,
The drum beats of the Ancestors,
Theirs and mine…….and yours, whoever you are.
Then the rum flared and flamed
And I can still see the flames sticking to the heels of the old East Indian man
As he stepped high, leaping entranced.
Then all, all are caught up by the beat,
And we all dance to the thump
Which is our own heart, our own pulse,
Yet which belongs to all of us,
And to all of Them…….whoever They are,
Who are now part of us as we are part of them.
That is comfa:
The place, the dance, the feeling, the rhythm,
And it is still alive.
The mystery is still there, here, everywhere…..