Rowan

Starker than the pink of a laboratory rabbit’s eye
The rowan is warning me

I made a mound to your memory
A circle of berries set in a garden of ash

I will not forget though there is no stone
No marking of the passing of the bloodiest line

I have woven my son from rowan
A fist full of berries in the place of a heart

I am your conduit

Warp and weft
Raveller and unraveller
All three Norns in one

Too late for tribute

The rowan is shaking
A white rabbit waiting
Hand in the mouth of a wolf

First published: Tears in the Fence, issue 26, Edited by David Caddy, 2000