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Yule Night I: Arctic Reflections

(Liminal Meetings)

Ælfhild Astrædottir

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They met in the Spring

When the ice was thin

Two souls gazing curiously

Across an Arctic tundra

Riotous with flowers,

One rising from the water

Vertebrae twisting to and fro

As they peeked into a world

So different from the one they knew

In the waters below,

The other standing tall in the sun

Antlers still wound with branches

From the forest beyond

They tentatively set their hooves

On a path towards the sea.

Though one spoke in whistles

And the other in huffs

They came to know each others’ hearts

By patterns woven and flower seed puffs,

A beluga following the twists and turns

Of the tundra where it falls into the sea

A reindeer following the sinuous lines

Where the ice had melted

Leaving the swim ways free,

They swam together

In waters between ice floes

Yet the one could not follow the other ashore

As the other could not follow below,

And as Spring turned to Summer

The reindeer was called away

Back across the tundra

Where the lichens shone bright

For the relentless Arctic summer

Grants no peace of night,

And as the ice closed in on Autumn

The beluga rejoined their pod

Taking the twisting tracks that wend

Through the cracks in the ceiling

Of the sea for whom

Night always calls

From the depths.

Long was the Winter

In the hills beyond the tundra

Long was the night

Beneath the waves

And far was the distance

Between these two souls

Who could not bridge the gap

No matter how brave,

The Moon shone bright

From the fields of the stars

And the winds fell still in respect

The water smoothed

In the space between ice

Until from above and below

It began to reflect,

Two dark round eyes in a moon pale face

Two eyes of blue

No longer the gold of summer

As the beluga gazed melancholy

Up towards the still skin of the sea

And the reindeer dipped their head

Over the fractal kissed

Water of a pond held in suspense

By the heat of the Earth,

Eyes met

In the space between

And souls followed hearts

Into the Plane of Mirrors.

It is said some nights

When the air is still

And the water reflects

Every ocean on the Moon

That if you linger on the edge

Of the Arctic ice

Or lean over a pool

From which rises steam

Unspiraled

You may catch a glimpse

Of these unlikely companions

The beluga and the reindeer

Flowing free through the reflection

That once kept them apart.

Yule Night II

Yule Night III

Yule Night IV

Yule Night V

#Ælfhild Astrædottir #poetry #original poetry #tumblr poets #winter poetry #yule poetry #yule #liminal poetry #liminal meetings #belugas #beluga poetry #reindeer #reindeer poetry

Amid the dapper wood sorrel leaves That pattern the forest floor Rise daintily striped blossoms on slender stems Their five petaled faces opening to the filtered sunlight Revealing an enchanting rich purple That draws me in Closer and closer still Though they taste no different from the petals of white Their hue so magnificent has captured my eyes And as they pull me along the trail I find still other shades between the violet dark and the ubiquitous pale.

#ælfhild astrædottir #original poetry #poetry #wood sorrel #oxalis #purple

Rain soaks my skin

Sinking into my soul

Washing my mind clean

Of the accrual of stress

Wind braces me

Revitalizing my energy

Lifting my spirits

To dance in the storm.

#poetry #original poetry #ælfhild astrædottir #tumblr poets #rain poetry #rain #wind poetry #storm poetry #storm

Plum Nest

Smooth matte argent bark

Brace my spine with shadows dark

Cradle moss upon your limbs

Cushion me curled within

Point your thorns at the world outside

In your embrace let me hide

Petals white speckle the air

Settle softly in my hair

Crystal dew on twig and thorn

Chase away my mood forlorn

Lace your branches against the sky

Shield the hollow where rests I.

#ælfhild astrædottir #poetry #original poetry #tumblr poets #plum #plum poetry #plum tree #plum blossom #sanctuary #sanctuary poetry

Northern Spotted Owl

New moon grace our skies

Owls see with darkling eyes

Ravenous hunters between the trees

Trailing doom, no time to flee

Haunting calls, be wary not

Ere silence rules with danger fraught

Reap the lives that Spring has sown

Now we know we are not alone

Soaring through the space between

Passing through the woods unseen

Owls live by ears askew

Tumult cast by talons that hew

Through fur and flesh and feather thin

Eats legs of four and two akin

Death you will never hear arrive

Owns the night each and every live

Wings so soft you would never know

Long the line outside the glow.

#ælfhild astrædottir #poetry #original poetry #tumblr poets #northern spotted owl #owl #spotted owl #owl poetry #Acrostic #Acrostic poem

Yuletide Night XII: Only in Color

(Liminal Meetings)

Ælfhild Astrædottir

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On a quiet silver moon

Clad in quiet silver dust

Are yet rivers and forests

Are yet love and trust,

Here the rivers run so clear

You can count every stone

Here the trees grow argentine

Every leaf in monochrome,

Here the sky is always leaden

A perfect pewter cap

Here the ground is always soft

Ashen invitation to nap,

There are fliers of black and white

Stunning shapes cutting the sky

There are swimmers of gray

That even their prey pass by,

A silver world by day

Further blurred by shadows at night

Where argent beings live

Unseen until the twilight,

For moments snatched at dawn

For fleeting times at dusk

The distant sunlight is filtered

Even further by the dust,

Until what remains has lost its balance

Photons bereft of their kin

Careen across this quiet moon

Revealing secrets within,

For in the light of sunrise

For in the sunset’s glow

There are colors on this moon

That no other world may know,

Then the whispers from the shadows

Then the words long worn from stone

Unite like souls in color

Never more alone.

#Ælfhild Astrædottir #poetry #original poetry #tumblr poets #winter poetry #yule poetry #yule #liminal poetry #liminal meetings #only in color #color #color poetry #silver #silver poetry

Yuletide Night XI: In the Shadow of the Moon

(Liminal Meetings)

Ælfhild Astrædottir

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In the shadow of the Moon

Is an ocean spun of night

Filling the jagged craters walls

When she turns away from light,

Here the sleek salamanders emerge

From their tunnels dark and true

Where they lie dormant and wait

For the Moon to be made anew,

Here there is life that is never seen

Rolling chemotrophs chased by silicate beings

For there are none who have ever disbelieved

Life in oceans that have never been,

Here the rollicking rollers roll

Feasting on dust and shed fluff

While jellies hover over the surface

Before dissolving in a puff,

Here we can dance

In an ocean that yet holds still

Here we can meet at last

In a place wrought of whim over will.

#Ælfhild Astrædottir #poetry #original poetry #tumblr poets #winter poetry #yule poetry #yule #liminal poetry #liminal meetings #in the shadow of the moon #moon #moon poetry #shadow #shadow poetry

Yuletide Night X: The Shore

(Liminal Meetings)

Ælfhild Astrædottir

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I walk the shore at night

Where the water still soaks the sand

Whilst the moon lounges on a chaise of clouds

I meander the darkling strand,

With the ever moving sea

Wave upon wave telling time

With the stillness of land

Life paused by Winter’s rime,

With only a crescent moon

To light my maudlin way

I cannot see my own footprints

Nor the ones that have washed away,

I walk the shore in solitude

Of body though not of mind

I feel the warmth, not of memory

Of a future soon to find.

#Ælfhild Astrædottir #poetry #original poetry #tumblr poets #winter poetry #yule poetry #yule #liminal poetry #liminal meetings #shore #the shore #shore poetry #beach poetry #beach

Yuletide Night IX: In Winter's Breath

(Liminal Meetings)

Ælfhild Astrædottir

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You can see me

In the patterns

Of the frost upon the pane,

You can hear me

In the rhythm

Of the Northern Wind’s refrain,

Where the water turns to crystal

Where the wind is tuned to stone

Where the wilds will is written

We shall never be alone,

Though our paths have long since parted

Though our songs were long since sung

Though our corporealities have faded

Into elements far flung,

There is magic in the Winter

There is magic in the snow

There is magic in the darkness

That only you and I can know,

I cannot see you in the Spring

When water runs and rivers rise

I cannot hear you in the Summer

When warm the wind does naught but sigh

Almost I find thee in the Autumn

As the world joins us in demise

Tis not until the reign of Winter

We join again in snow graced skies.

#Ælfhild Astrædottir #poetry #original poetry #tumblr poets #winter poetry #yule poetry #yule #liminal poetry #liminal meetings #snow #snow poetry #frost #frost poetry #wind #wind poetry #seasons #elements #elementals

Yuletide Night VIII: Echoes

(Liminal Meetings)

Ælfhild Astrædottir

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We heard each other in echoes

That bounce around the realms below

We searched the winding serpent trails

With glim in hand and hearts aglow

Ever calling

Ever listening

For the one who said

I know.

I know

The resonance of

Your confusion

Your pain

Your delight

I know

The shape of

Your path

Your dreams

Your sight

I know

The feelings you speak of

For I have felt them before

For the gift of one who understands

The universe I did implore

Ever watching

No more waiting

I had consigned myself

To tread

The paths of life

Through joy and strife

Alone

Though my heart bled

Until I heard

My own refrain

In a voice yet strange to me

Until that voice

Wound the rhythms of my heart

And gave me space

For breath.

For breath

I wandered

The darkling paths

Where ne’er sun had shone

For breath

I spoke the truths of my heart

That ne’er before were known

For breath

I listened to tales you told

Sooth by blood, by bone.

In the luminescent glimmers

Of the minerals in the deep

In the softest draft I have ever known

Of the wind that wound through seeps

In the tunnels of lava long since cooled

Of mountains that have returned to sleep

I heard your voice

Bounce from the walls

I knew I had found treasure

I wished to keep.

The paths below

Are serpentine

Are wrought of fire

Are forged by dragon

They convey sound

Through shifting air

Through eensy fissures

Through crystals bare

No material being

Can trace the route

Can track the whispers

Can trail the sound

No logic can

Bring me to you

Or you to me

I know tis true

Not in this

Confusing place

Having never met

I cannot retrace

The steps yet taken

The paths yet found

Not here deep

Beneath the ground

Down here in eternal night

I must now forsake the light

That I had hoped would show the way

To you, my love, and to new day

Now I cast all logic aside

Into the unknown I stride

For not a moment more can I abide

To tread alone not by your side

So now I listen for your voice

My heart has long since made its choice

I shall wrap myself in your locution

For no sense has brought me solution

Caution I have left behind

To dance through darkness

Love to find.

My lungs expand in space you gave

My voice takes flight through crystal and cave

Your’s echoes now between my notes

Your soundwaves mountains no longer motes

No more stone beneath my soles

No more light piercing hope with holes

All is darkness and sound and love

Purer than aught to be found above.

#Ælfhild Astrædottir #poetry #original poetry #tumblr poets #winter poetry #yule poetry #yule #liminal poetry #liminal meetings #echoes #echo poetry #caverns #lava #breath #love #sound

Yuletide Night VII: Between Leaf and Sky

(Liminal Meetings)

Ælfhild Astrædottir

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A glimmer of starshine

Between leaves of glossy green

A delicate fragrance

Wafting along air currents

A Star Jasmine

Climbs a weatherworn maple

Draping down from stalwart branches

Brushing the ground gently

Even as it reaches for the sky,

A flash of yellow

Behind webs of branch and leaf

A jabber of musical notes

Ranging from clear song to raspy mutters

A Goldfinch

Flits through the pergola of maple

Clinging to twigs it hangs upside down

Peering through the leaves

Even as its wings yearn for the sky,

In Spring the Goldfinch visits

Hopping from branch to vine

Flashes of gold set stars a twinkling

As the lives of Goldfinch and Star Jasmine entwine,

In Summer the Goldfinch ranges

Catching the summer winds up high

To places only petals can follow

Through the pathways of the sky,

In Autumn the Goldfinch descends

Into the forests’ embrace

Where leaves have fled the maple tree

Lingering only in the Star Jasmine’s lace,

In Winter the Goldfinch fluffs

Every feather to keep the heat within

Taking shelter in a hollow of the maple

Guarded by the Star Jasmine.

#Ælfhild Astrædottir #poetry #original poetry #tumblr poets #winter poetry #yule poetry #yule #liminal poetry #liminal meetings #goldfinch #goldfinch poetry #star jasmine #star jasmine poetry #between leaf and sky

Before Lammas

(Liminal Meetings VI)

Ælfhild Astrædottir

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Is there ever a time as betwixt and between

As that between snowmelt and Lammas?

Not the merest blush of Spring

Nor the full heat of Summer

The span from the last breath

Of Winter at dawn

Through the longest day

And evenings that linger

Not yet to fade to Autumn

Rather to Lammas

That most liminal of times

Halfway between the shortest night

And the balance of the equinox.

In the time before Lammas

They met in the Spring

With the breath of Winter

Still chilling the dawn,

Where the Redwoods tower

Where the sea mists linger

They met beside stream

Beneath bridge

Exploring the spaces of shadow

Where the water speaks

Where they first chose to listen,

In the time before Lammas

They spun spidersilk plans

Delicate and myriad

Determined

To meet and speak again

As Spring turned towards Summer,

In the time before Lammas

They each made their choices

And again and again

It was each other they chose

To linger beside as they explored the world

To exclaim over minerals

To expound upon stories

To walk the paths of plants

To elucidate on lichens

Until even in the quiet moments

Each to their own pursuits

They chose each others’ company

Every facet revealed by the spin of time

Bringing them closer together

Joy to find,

Til even though Lammas

Found them spatially apart

Distance proved little obstacle

To the meeting of hearts.

#Ælfhild Astrædottir #poetry #original poetry #tumblr poets #winter poetry #yule poetry #yule #liminal poetry #liminal meetings #lammas #lammas poetry

Yule Night V: In the Space Between Waking and Dreaming

(Liminal Meetings)

Ælfhild Astrædottir

In the Space Between Waking and Dreaming

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A golden cup floats above the meadow

Filled with honeyed sunshine

A resplendent spark floats up on the breeze

Coming to rest in the eyelashes

Of a being at rest

Lulling them into dreams,

A crumble of sand falls like a finale

Baked in the desert sun

It burns where it strikes

Driving its victim

Closer to waking,

The first stretches

In languid dream

Arriving at a shore of olivine

The second jerks

And awareness replaces blackness

Soft jeweled sand cradling them,

Content, baffled

They walk the shore

Between waking and dreaming

Soaked in sunshine

Warmer than the lazy meadow

Treading in cool sand

As if the desert had learned kindness,

And when their paths crossed

Another way opened

Glacial erratics

Carved from the mountains

Gave them stepping stones

Into the sea of dreams.

Yule Night I

Yule Night II

Yule Night III

Yule Night IV

#Ælfhild Astrædottir #poetry #original poetry #tumblr poets #winter poetry #yule poetry #yule #liminal poetry #liminal meetings #dreams #dream poetry #in the space between waking and dreaming

Yule Night IV: Within Penumbra

(Liminal Meetings)

Ælfhild Astrædottir

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Whereto the shifting galaxies of dustmotes

Whose orbit has spun them beyond the sun?

Whereto the nebulae of obscurity

When light has crept into its home?

Consider the lives

Who have forsaken the spotlight

Who tread not the dark and deep.

Whispers carry furthest

In the still of night

Are used to make a mockery

Of subtlety in the light

They hold their secrets best

In the swiftly waning twilight.

Those who neither go nor stay

Are not of indecisive mind

Rather have chosen the inbetween

Truth in duality to find.

In the full strength of sun

Rainbows dance

Cast forth from elemental prisms,

In the absolute of dark

You can find meanings bared

From the most unassuming of sounds,

In the space between where light is not lost

Tis filtered, its density gentled

Is a world of kindness

A balm for the senses

Where breath can live

Where spines uncurl

Where eyes can widen

Where a soul can seek and strive

To soak in the world as a whole

To brim with knowledge

To yearn with mystery

Without sacrificing either.

This is the zone

Between the heart of the shadow and the light

This is penumbra.

Within penumbra

A curious paw

Bats at worlds

Sets them aspin

Proves them

Unexpectedly

Seen.

Within penumbra

Reflective eyes

Gather in pieces

Of other lives

Wrapping them

In silent wings

They release beautiful truths

Into the winds.

Each from their high perch

In the world tree

Tilt their heads

In consideration

In respect

In admiration

Two artists

Who meddle

From the fringe

Of shadow

Penumbra.

Yule Night I

Yule Night II

Yule Night III

Yule are here

Yule Night V

#Ælfhild Astrædottir #poetry #original poetry #tumblr poets #winter poetry #yule poetry #yule #liminal poetry #liminal meetings #shadows #shadow poetry #penumbra

Yule Night III: On the Edge of a Snowflake

(Liminal Meetings)

Ælfhild Astrædottir

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We met on the edge of a snowflake

Two travelers from distant stars

We circled each other in dizzying spirals

Before refracting through the finest crystal

Racing into the air together

Over the thawing tundra

Laughing at science’s confusion

Unaware of how wholly unbothered

We are by uncertainties in how we are perceived

As wave or particle or something ineffable

When we know ourselves and each other

Exactly as we choose to be

We ping from snowflake to snowflake

Switching effortless between roles

As our momentum leapfrogs us

Down the frequencies

Through the ultraviolet spectrum

Until neither could say who first reaches

Violet

Nor do we care

We careen from the last crystal

Moments before it melts

From the traffic of our slower brethren

Veering towards the first flower of spring

Boldly purple saxifrage

Its round radial blooms

Reminiscent

Of our origin stars far past

Attended by the fuzziest bee in existence

Bombus polaris

Ringed with stripes

As if in homage to Jupiter

With eyes

Oh, those eyes

Hemispheres of unrelenting black

They turn our way

They say that flying

Is falling and missing the ground

We fall together now

Into the sinister eye

Of the final absorption

We shall transform now

Bouncing through the brain

Of Bombus polaris

Energy in another form

Still laughing

Still together

We fly.

Yule Night I

Yule Night II

Yule are here

Yule Night IV

Yule Night V

#Ælfhild Astrædottir #poetry #original poetry #tumblr poets #winter poetry #yule poetry #yule #liminal poetry #liminal meetings #stars #star poetry #photons #astronomy #astronomy poetry #arctic tundra #Bombus polaris #arctic bumblebee #purple saxifrage #arctic poetry

Yule Night II: Between Notes

(Liminal Meetings)

Ælfhild Astrædottir

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An upwards spiral rises through the dark

A tentative melody burbles

Cut off

A sleepy outpouring of notes

One, and another one, and more

As the birds bring in the day

With their songs,

Many have listened

To the dawn chorus

Picked out one voice from the many

Or basked in the orchestral production,

Much can be said

Of these wonders of aural delight

Much has been said

Today I ask

Who listens

To the message

Between

The notes?

In the depths of the forest

Where swordferns spring like fountains

Where brambles sprawl over the skeletons

Of yesteryears’ shrubs

Where leaves throng

In the hollows beneath the sky

Where the trees permit light

Down to the forest floor

To support the jeweled leaves of Plagiomnium

To grace the nodding flowers of Linnaea borealis

Here the Pacific Wren

Troglodytes pacificus

Flits through the spaces

Between leaf and twig

As if a fragment of forest

Took flight

In the corner of your eye

Movement a shock of delight

Amid the static of the undergrowth

And yet

Is it?

Underground vast webs of mycorrhizal networks

Weave through the sediment

Abandoned pieces of other lives

The rich weft of their journeys

Water that has percolated down

Is drawn within

And the water rises

It rises through hyphae

It rises through root

It rises through stem to leaf

Transpiring into the air beyond

Free unto the winds,

Tell me

If even a drop of rain

Long since splattered into the ground

Has such sheer beauty of movement

How could the plants not?

No answer?

Then let me tell you

They do.

A cascade of trilling notes

Sweet and high and liquid

Pours from the throat of the Pacific Wren

Whose beak is tipped back in song

Whose perch is bold and high

Upon a mossy branch

You see.

A chirp

Just one

As seconds pass

Another

A pause

And another

No trill this

No cascade

Each a single note

With space

Between

Chirp

Wait

Chirp

Breath

Chirp

This is the contact call of the Pacific Wren

Another may join it

Chirp

Wait

There from another bush

Chirp

Pause

Back to the first

Chirp

Always leaving space

For the other to speak

Always maintaining contact

As they rove the hidden spaces

That only they can find

Between leaf and twig

Between stem and frond.

Who else might be listening?

A cascade of fronds

Bold and beautiful in the shadows

Polystichum munitum

Each leaflet a gorgeous shade of beryl or malachite

On a stem of feathery copper

They shape a haven for a wren

Curving spaces between fronds

Hollow coves above the warm earth

Sunlight filtered into safer dapples

Quiet

Save a gentle rustle in the wind

Are they listening?

With each cascading trill

Of the wren perched on the tallest frond

A delicate nephrite jade green frond unfurls

Just a smidgen more

In the sheltered center of the fern

In the space between the contact calls

The dainty fuzz on the uncurling stem

Shivers

Vibrating to the message

Between the notes

The fern unfurls further

Unveiling the full spectrum

Of its colours

Unabashed.

Yule Night I

Yule are here

Yule Night III

Yule Night IV

Yule Night V

#Ælfhild Astrædottir #poetry #original poetry #tumblr poets #winter poetry #yule poetry #yule #liminal poetry #liminal meetings #wrens #wren poetry #pacific wren #Troglodytes pacificus #ferns #fern poetry #Polystichum munitum #between notes

Winter Winds

Winter winds gush through my soul

Lifting my mind into the skies

There will be no sinking into dreams

No drifting into sleep

Whilst the wild energy of the air

Hums in my veins.

#ælfhild astrædottir #original poetry #poetry #tumblr poets #wind poetry #wind #winter winds #winter poetry

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