Samhain, soft and gentle, descending graceful on the haunches of the year. Ruth Calder Murphy

A beautiful poem on Samhain's eternal beauty.

Shared from the very talented Ruth Calder Murphy. Find more of her wonderful work here: http://www.ruthmathews.net/ruth.htm

The Brief Eclipse
- By Ruth Calder Murphy - 

Samhain, soft and gentle,
descending graceful on the haunches of the year -
Ancestors smile on the backs of shadows
and the veil shimmers and almost disappears
on Autumn’s burnished breath.
The fragrance of decay hangs in your arms and on your warm exhale,
the welcome sleep of death
that leads to rebirth and risings
to greater, higher things.
How did your loving face, your comfortable embrace,
so full of wisdom, love and tender grace,
become eclipsed by sweets and tricks and treats
- and worse, by blood and gore, by villainy and more
than any other season must endure?
How did your transforming power
become the Evil Hour,
the scourge of days?
Samhain, soft and gentle, your heart ablaze with Autumn’s gold,
you’ll not be hijacked, ‘slaved and sold,
for, strong beyond the knavery and tricks,
You’re more profound - and more secure and more eternal sure -
than any transient eclipse.