simonhlilly

1
Oak Spell

The key to the oaken door
Not a path nor a way in
Not light nor darkness
Not beginning nor ending
Not staying nor returning
Not wanting nor acquiescing
Not song nor silence.
Ivy, light as air,
Weighs down the branch.
Steady and strong is the day:
At either end it fades without fight
Into darkness.
—

2
Oak Spell

Upright, holding
Roaming and remaining still
A name that knows it is not all
A home for everything forgotten
Wheel’s heart, circle’s centre
A pool, a fountain, a furnace
A dwelling place, a dark lightning,
A storm passing in summer
A burden of never forgetting
A dream awake and dreaming
A way in and a way out
A spiral,line sharp to the heart
A wonder, a well, a cliff of sight.
What it is, is not at all.
What it is not, becomes itself.
Oak woven betwixt, between.
Key to the oaken door
To turn round and round
Moving stillness into stillness
Folding all songs into one note.
—

3
Monterey Cypress

(Spell of resolve and resolution)

This heart.
This spirit.
Green fire
Lit heavenwards.
Silent root upheld.
A way through night.
A way through day.

—

4
Sweet Chestnut

(Spell of presence: 1)

It cannot be striven for,
It cannot be gained.
There is no plan, no scheme
To find the Now.
It is not fixed, it is not shaped,
It has no excuses, no stories, no reasons.
The foundation of everything,
It is key without door.
Going nowhere it remains the centre.
Only silence can live there.
Breath wraps it around,
Though it is not breath.
Sight rests upon it,
Sound flows through it.
The taste of Now
Is the cool, lucid water
Of life.

—

5
Sweet Chestnut

(Spell of presence: 2)

It cannot be captured
It cannot be held
It is rested upon, dropped into.
Its mystery is complete.
It cannot be sought,
It is nowhere else.
It has no measurement.
The only thing we have
Is the most difficult thing to see.
The gold of the sun:
Blinding to the eyes.

This abstract moment-
Indestructible, empty,
Chimes,
Reverberates.

—