And now for something completely different

If you read my more personal blog, you've already seen this. Apologies, but it fits here too...

Housewife-Writer’s Imbolc

I chop potatoes and beef, weep
At the pungent beauty of diced onions, use
The alchemy of fire to feed love with stew.
Brigid, let my cooking be devotion to you.

I sweep my floor, make order from chaos,
Fold warm, sweet-scented flannel sheets and hang
My beloved’s uniforms fresh for the week.
Brigid, let my housework be devotion to you.

I order seeds, sigh at my snowy garden, turn frail seedlings
(Two true leaves now, recognizable as lettuce, chard, argula)
Toward light that grows stronger each day.
Brigid, let my tending of the earth be devotion to you.

I put on chant in an ancient language, stretch
My body and mind toward health and serenity,
My spirit toward something eternal.
Brigid, let this healing practice be devotion to you.

Finally, it is time. I light a red candle that fills
My office with cinnamon, turn on
My computer, open myself to story-telling and enter
The world I weave with my words.
Brigid, once this word-web was all I allowed myself.
But I have seen your other faces, seen
That there is more to me than an empty shell
Through which songs and stories pass into the world.
Brigid, let my words be devotion to you,
No more and no less than the holy work
Of keeping a home, feeding those I love,
Learning to heal what is broken.

Imbolc 2009