Midsummer Festival Poem by Tom Billsborough

Fetch two wheels of straw
Bound to seasoned wood.
Place one upon the bonfire,
Stacked high along the shore.
Take one towards the mound
With ancient piles aligned
Around the altar stone
To channel and confine
Dawn's pencilled light.
Collect protective herbs:
Sweet-scented thyme for sleep
The feathery leaves of mugwort
To ease sore feet;
The purple spikes of betony
To cure a sorcerer's curse;
Cardamine hirsuta
Whose fine ballistic seeds
Bring energy, and create
A fruitful field of dreams.
The Leaves of rampant nettle,
For nurturing our growth;
Where butterflies emerge
To briefly spread their wings;
Stoop down to pick plantago
To guide uncertain faith
Gather scented mayweed
To salve a maiden's ills;
Malus use for cleansing out
Obsessive fears and acts.
The aniseed of fennel brings
Foresight, clearer sight.
Cast these herbs into the flames.
And may their mingled ash
Transport us to a better life
And bring us peace this year,
At this Midsummer's Eve,
The Goddess reigns supreme,
And symbolising this, the women
Cut a lock of hair
From each her serving man
And cast it in the fire.
How long we celebrate with
Games and dance and song
Throughout Midsummer's Night,
The coming of the sacred dawn
We stand upon the mound
Where sacred stones align
Around the altar catching
The pencilled light of Dawn.