Happy Poem in Your Pocket Day!

Even without my reminder, a dear blogger, Wishy the Writer (isn't that a great whimsical blog title!?), remembered and left me a link so I could see the poem she selected for today. When I read her choice (a favorite of mine), I knew just which poem I would choose to share.

It's by a man...er... woman... I don't really know. The person is somewhat of a mystery to me. J. L. Stanley. All I know is that I'm ever so grateful that I stumbled upon this particular poem many years ago. For a long time I was under the impression that J. L. had passed away. I'm thrilled to say it appears I was mistaken. Before today I only knew of the Labyrinth poem collection. I will be spending time this evening reading this new cache of poems I discovered labeled "Collected Poems of J.L. Stanley (c) 1983-2009". See, still writing! Yay!

I dedicate this sharing (and not the poem itself since I didn't write it) to my grandchildren one and all, in hopes that they will lead magical lives where the wind and the faeries never stop singing to them and they never stop listening.

Catechism for a Witch's Child

When they ask to see your gods
your book of prayers
show them lines
drawn delicately with veins
on the underside of a bird's wing
tell them you believe
in giant sycamores mottled
and stark against a winter sky
and in nights so frozen
stars crack open spilling
streams of molten ice to earth
and tell them how you drink
a holy wine of honeysuckle
on a warm spring day
and of the softness
of your mother who never taught you
death was life's reward
but who believed in the earth
and the sun
and a million, million light years
of being

1986 J.L.Stanley