O HAZEL
SOMEONE HAS SLAIN YOU
I REALISE THIS BECAUSE
I SAW THE SPEAR-SHAFT
DANGLING FROM YOUR STUCK SIDE

O APPLE,
YOU FELT YOUR HEART SLOW
AS THE LIFE WAS SUCKED OUT OF YOU
THE SHARP POINT PENETRATED YOU
YOU LAY WRITHING IN AGONY

O BIRCH, THEN YOU DIED AND ALL THE FOREST MINIONS
CAME TO TAKE APART YOUR ROTTING CARCASE

THIS WAS THE ONE AND ONLY TIME
IN YOUR LIFE YOU EVER FELT PAIN

I KNOW WHO THE KILLER WAS:
BALOR WAS HIS NAME!

O ASH,
I KNOW IT WAS NOT YOUR TIME TO DIE
I TRAPPED YOUR FLEETING SOUL
AND CAUGHT IT IN MY CRANE BAG
WHERE IT POSSESSED ALL THE RUNES

THEN, O ROWAN, MY RUNES WERE BURNED
MY MIND WAS EMPTY AS I STUMBLED ACROSS
THE DESOLATE, WASTED LANDSCAPE
AS I WAS BLIND AND DEAF
MY FEET CARRIED ME ON
MY ANCESTORS’ SPIRITUAL PATH

EVENTUALLY, O REED, MY SOUL WHICH,
TO ESCAPE FROM THE OCCUPIED RUNES
HAD FLOWN KITE-LIKE, HIGH ABOVE
MY RUINED BODY, WAS SUNDERED
AND CRIED TEARS OF CRIMSON
WHILST THE PURPLE ETHEREAL
SHEATH DISAPPEARED IN A NOVA

O FURZE, THE ENERGY FROM THE VANISHED NOVA
ATTRACTED ALL THE DEMONS
FROM THE UNDERSIDE OF THE EARTH
THEY FLEW IN A RAGE
AT HAVING THEIR COMFORTABLE DARKNESS DISPELLED

WHEN, O ELDER, THEY RUSHED DOWN
IN A CLOUD OF DARKNESS
UPON MY POOR DEFENCELESS BODY
EATING UP ALL THE POSSESSED RUNES

O OAK, IN THIS DISSIPATION OF ENERGY
INTO THE DARK REALM
AWAKENED THE GIANT OF ELENDRIL
WHO, GRASPING HIS MILE-LONG SHINY SWORD
PURGED THE DEMONS AND LAID THEM VERY LOW.

O PALM, HE THEN LAY CRACKING AND FIZZING
DOWN TO SLEEP
WHILE HE SLEPT EVERY HAIR ON HIS BODY
GLOWED WITH AN ELECTRICAL CHARGE
AND ALL THE PLANETS BEGAN TO CIRCLE AROUND THIS
RECUMBENT FIGURE

O HEATHER, IT WAS THEN AND ONLY THEN
O HAZEL, THAT THE PEOPLE OF THIS PLANET REALISED
THAT THE MOON NO LONGER EXISTED
AND IN FACT, THE SUN HAD EATEN THE MOON.
THIS IS WHAT THEY SAW, WHEN THEY LOOKED AT THE BODY
OF THE RECUMBENT GIANT
YET EVERY ONE THAT GAZED UPON THE SWORD
BEGAN TO RECITE THE SHATTERED RUNES
WHICH FILLED THEIR MINDS
WITH THE PROFANITY OF A DEFILED DEATH

O YEW, THE ELDERS OF THE HUMAN RACE
WERE CONFUSED. THEY COULD NOT HEAR
THE SONG OF THE SWORD
NOR UNDERSTAND THE LANGUAGE OF THE RUNES
IT HAD SWALLOWED

SOME THOUGHT THERE WAS AN ILLNESS IN THE LAND
OTHERS THOUGHT SOME ENERGY
HAD MADE CRIMINALS COME INTO THEIR MIDST
YET ALL WERE CONVINCED
THIS WAS A DEADLY SCOURGE
WHICH WOULD BLIGHT AND DESTROY ALL THEIR CROPS

O WILLOW, SOMETHING HAD TO BE DONE, SO,
THEY SUMMONED THEIR MOST POWERFUL MAGICIANS
AND PUT A CURSE ON THEIR CHILDREN’S VISION
SO THAT THEY WOULD NO LONGER SEE OR FEEL
THE MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF OLD
WHICH HAD GUIDED THEIR PEOPLE

O HOLLY, ALL THE WHILE, HOPING TO FIND A CURE
THE ASTRONOMERS AND ASTROLOGERS
SET UP SUCH POWERFUL INSTRUMENTS
AS WOULD ALLOW THEM TO PEER INTO THE DEPTHS OF THE UNIVERSE
AND PENETRATE THE GREATEST DEPTHS OF THE COSMOS

THE RAYS FROM THESE INSTRUMENTS
WERE OF THE MOST POWERFUL EMANATION
THAT UNWARY TRAVELLERS OF ALL THE RACES
THOUGHT THEM AS GREAT AND POWERFUL WEAPONS OF DESTRUCTION.

O APPLE, THE ELDERS THOUGHT THAT THESE STAR-TRAVELLERS
HAD BROUGHT THE INVECTION OF THE SUN
AND BLIGHTED THEIR RACE, SO THEY DECLARED COMPLETE
AND EVERLASTING WAR

O BIRCH, THIS WAR BEGAN TO WAKE THE RECUMBENT GIANT
HIS SWORD WHINED AND HOWLED
WITH THE ENERGY OF THE RUNES’ ILL
REFLECTING OFF THE RAYS OF THE POWERFUL INSTRUMENTS OF DETECTION

O ROWAN, WHILST BENEATH AN ORANGE-OCHRE SKY
THE STAR FOLK AND THE EARTH PEOPLE
FOUGHT A BLOODY AND MURDEROUS BATTLE

O REED, BENEATH THE BLAZING SKY
THE OTHER PLANETS, OUTRAGED
BY THE HUMAN’S FOLLY
BEGAN TO ABSORB THE RAYS OF THE SWORD
TURNING THE WAVES INTO HEALING RAYS
WHICH BROUGHT FORTH ALL THE NEW FORMS OF LIFE
WHICH HAD BEEN DESTROYED BY THE BARBARIC FIGHTING
INSTIGATED BY THE ELDERT

O FURZE, THE YOUNGER RACES WERE AMAZED
AS THE PLANTS AND ANIMALS
ALL BEGAN TO RETURN TO THE SACRED EARTH

THEN SLOWLY, EVER SO SLOWLY,
THEY DISENGAGED THEIR SENSES FROM THE
OPERATION OF THE PENETRATING
INSTRUMENTS AND WEAPONS
AND BEGAN TO HEAR, FEEL
AND SEE THE EARTH ONCE AGAIN.

O ELDER, THE GIANT THRUST HIS
SWORD DEEP INTO THE EARTH,
AND THE POSITIVE LIFE ENERGY OF YOU, O HAZEL,
FLOWED ONCE MORE INTO THE VEINS AND SACRED CORE
OF THE PLANET.

O OAK, ALL THE MALICIOUS WRONGDOING
OF THE BALOR WAS SPENT, LEAVING
ONLY YOUR POOR SOUL, O HAZEL,
FOR NOW, BY HAZARD, CHANCE AND HAPPENSTANCE
THE MOON WAS NOW PART OF THE EARTH
JUST AS IT WAS BEFORE THE GREAT FLOOD
WHEN THE DRUIDS WALKED FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN
FROM SHORE TO SHORE

– The Great Bard Taliesin

(Translated from the Ancient Ogham script. C. 13th.)

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