Samhain
for the Celts early November ended one year
and started a new one,
crops brought in,
cattle brought from summer pasture,
livestock brought in and slaughtered,
all so that food, and they, will last till spring,
a time to mark the beginning of the darker half of the year,
around this time trees transform,
caught between green work and bare rest,
for a few days each tree can blaze bright with color
as if to celebrate the spirit within as it passes toward sleep,
the Celts lit great fires to blaze against the dying of the light,
to remember to BE, despite the suppression of cold dark doubt,
Samhain, they called this time,
about halfway between Equinox and Solstice,
how ironic that we vote then,
and, sometimes, like this week,
fear and hate rule many voters,
how much more we need to work to endure,
to live hope and love,
to remember the “least of these, our brethren,”
so that we can remember the greatest of that within us,
despite the darknesses that call to us,
as surety wavers and veils part,
we must still light fires, and believe.
by Henry H. Walker
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