The path that once was cushion moss is now deep brown humus.
Her steps are shorter, slower // birdsong and chatters are muffled
as wafting cedar catches in furry nostrils; dances on her wrinkles. Time
enough for this corporeal manifestation to say, “goodbye, dear friend.”
~Her weak drooping arms cling to a rough, cool trunk. Adieu~
Lights dim. Animate still. Cells deflate. A streak of lightning escapes.
Faeries leapfrog lily pads, interrupting bullfrog songs // owls turn; blink.
Twinkled wishes are with Queen Mab, who always decides. Colors
fall to form crinkly beds for winter’s cushion for her, now a wee acorn.
Image: “Queen Mab,” by Romany Steele
Music: “Peggy Gordon” is a Canadian folk song that has become popular in many English-speaking countries. As a folk song it was first collected in the 1950s and 1960s in Canada, mainly in Nova Scotia. The song “Peggy Gordon” has been recorded by many artists. Here it is being covered by The Chieftains and The Secret Sisters.
Merril is today’s host of dVerse’ Poetics. Merril says:
I’m asking you to either write a poem about bridges OR to write a Puente. If you choose to write a Puente it does not need to include the word bridge (but it can). If you do not write a Puente, then it should use some form of the word bridge in the poem or in the title.
Tao Talk 
This takes me through a woodland of dreams and faeries. Truly wonderful with the bridge taking you even deeper into a dreamscape.
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Thank you very much, Bjorn.
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Nicely done, Lisa, especially the use of punctuation and caesura. I love the suggestion of colour in the description of the path and the ‘wafting cedar’ that ‘dances on her wrinkles’. There is so much going on in the final stanza, everything awake and busy.
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Thank you very much, Kim ❤
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Lisa- you have mastered this form so well. Lovely fairytale.
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Linda thank you very much and happy you enjoyed reading it.
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You’re welcome and it was my pleasure!
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This is magical, Lisa! A fairy tale dream of a poem. I particularly like the last stanza with all the action and “Queen Mab decides.”
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Merril you can thank your prompt for how well it turned out. Glad you enjoyed the fairy tale dream 🙂 ❤
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You’re welcome, and I’m so pleased my prompt helped inspire your poem. 😀💙
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My goodness this is good! 💝💝 I especially love; “birdsong and chatters are muffled as wafting cedar catches in furry nostrils; dances on her wrinkles.” Kudos for a breathtaking Puente 😀
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Sanaa, many thanks to you. I think I’m starting to take on some of your poetic flourishes ❤ 🙂
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This conjured up visions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to me – all the spirits of the seasons woven together, and a wonderful artwork to accompany your writing!
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Ingrid, I’m happy to have conjured that place for you. Thank you!
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You painted a magical world. I so admire this line:
Twinkled wishes are with Queen Mab, who always decides.
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Grace, thank you very much and glad it pleases you.
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The interior near-rhymes give this such a magical feel.
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🙂 Glad you’re feeling the magic with it.
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Lovely poem Li
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Thank you! I had a lot of fun writing this one.
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You’re welcome my friend
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This was so delightful Lisa. Wonderful imagery and motion throughout. I love “owls turn: blinked” ☺️💕
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🙂 Glad you enjoyed the poem, Christine, thank you!
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This magical land came alive and with such detail as “wafting cedar catches in furry nostrils” The image and music add their own otherworldly ambience! ✨
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Thank you very much and thank you for your wonderful comment, Tricia.
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Well done Lisa! A very surreal piece! I love the music video… wonderful harmony!
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Thank you very much, Dwight and yes that song is surreally beautiful isn’t it.
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Yes!
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The setting is so beautiful and you get a real sense of bridging time as well.
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Thank you, and bridging time was what I was going for 🙂
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My goodness this is gorgeous! I especially love ““birdsong and chatters are muffled as wafting cedar catches in furry nostrils; dances on her wrinkles.” Delightful!
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Many thanks, Raivenne, glad you enjoyed it 🙂
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Excellent Lisa!
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Thank you, Rob!
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You’ve captured the magic of the ancient landscape that continues ever on, “where time can not be found”. And you know how I love traditional music. (K)
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Thank you, Kerfe. I thought you would like this poem and the music 🙂
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Fantasy and legend sprout like ivy in the warm mist of your lovely message. It is like a stroll through a literary arboretum.
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Glenn, you give the best comments ❤
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So richly filled with so many different senses. I love tree trunks. Something about them is so soothing, warm and safe, so your description of it as cooling, brings such sadness.
I especially love this: “dances on her wrinkles”. There is such beauty in ageing – I see that in trees also. I come from New Zealand and so love walking in the forests there, surrounded by majestic native kauri trees.
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Anna, the temperature of trees in MI depends on which season it is. No need for sadness for the cool bark in spring 🙂 I just googled kauri trees and am agog at how beautiful they are. It has to be a spiritual experience walking through forests of them. Majestic is a good word to describe them. Thanks for reading and your wonderful comments.
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😊❤ You know I have never studied the temperature of trees. That intrigues me. Yes, they leave me in awe. I often wonder what trees would tell us if they could speak. I was recently walking the dunes where a memorial marked the place where men in the Dutch resistance were executed. I noticed these huge trees around the site and thought about how they witnessed that atrocity.
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You’ve woven a beautiful fairy tale! Amazing.
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Thanks much, Jay 🙂
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you poem is a romantic weaving as delightful as the image and the music! Delightful
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Thank you, Kate 🙂
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This is absolutely magical! Love it!
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So glad you like it, Lillian. Thank you 🙂
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A wonderful sense of magic runs through both stanzas Lisa and I love the way the bridge allows us to step deeper into this fairy world 💗
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Xenia, thank you for what you see with your eyes ❤
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You’re very welcome dear Lisa 💛
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Queen Mab indeed, a shakespearean wonder and so apt for May (even perchance the May queen comes to mind) a forest delight.
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Paul, she very well may be the May Queen. So glad you enjoyed the poem, thank you.
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Deep, but also refreshing.
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Hello there Lisa,
I was looking round for blogs about Nova Scotia as I am just finishing off a series about a trip there and I happened upon this.
I am forever saying that “every day is a schoolday”, probably to the great annoyance of my few readers but it is true. I am a folk musician of no fixed ability and have sung / played Peggy Gordon so many times without knowing it was Canadian. I had always believed it to be Irish or Scottish so thanks so much for putting me straight on that.
I suspect my confusion probably arose from the number of Celtic musicians have covered it including the Chieftans who you feature and who my mate plays with. The late Ronnie Drew also did a brilliant version. Thanks again.
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Fergy, thank you very much for reading and commenting. Honestly, I’m only going by what wikipedia says as far as the song origins go. I have no idea if the song originated in Canada. It may very well have Irish or Scottish origins. I like the idea of anyone singing this song and I’m glad you’ve sung it many times 🙂
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You and wikipedia may well be right, or more accurately the song may have been first collected in Canada. There is such a cultural crossover between Scotland particularly and Ireland to a lesser extent with Canada.
Perhaps you would not be as happy hearing me singing Peggy Gordon if you had ever actually heard me doing it!
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🙂
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