After a walk to the white chalk horse at Uffington, Brian was inspired to write 'Larks Above the Mist'.  A long poem based on the Celtic goddess Epona.  She was the horse goddess of fertility and nurturing; epos being the proto-celtic word for horse. Her veneration from Western Europe spread to Britain, and adopted by the cavalry legions enjoyed a festival in her honour on December 18th in Rome. The Uffington white horse has been dated to around 1400 BCE. Sally

Larks above the Mist (part 1)

Epona, mother of the grain

Apple maker, source of rain;

Sanctify our homes today.

              ...... and our mid-summer joy

Was quieter for the loss, even though we'd known

His life would not last out another year.

As his eldest, I must take his axe

Along the ridge, down to the Isis pools,

Where I will break and drown it, giving thanks

To the goddess of our hearth and herds.

But summer grants scarce time for journeying

When harvest and dropped foals demand our all,

The barley cut, the apples picked and juiced

For winter bread and Samhain's winter wine.

Epona, Guardian of the dead,

Succour those whom you have led;

Sanctify our lives today.

A steerhorn calls beyond the palisade

Summoning the stallion of the sun

To flood the autumn warmth the valley floor

Where night-guards stretch, pick up their shields and spears,

And sidle through the softly opening gates

Towards their huts, cold meat and morning mead.

Brian Hick October 2012

©copyright Sally Hick 30.9.24