GIFTS

"Hawthorn Fairy", Cicely Mary Barker

Today I speak of gifts given with love to celebrate a birthday - mine. I already have printed the two poems I received from Joanne and Mary, and have shown you the fabulous dragon statue from Britt Headley.

The next gift is from Leanne, of "Tales of Simple Days", one of my dearest friends, born at the autumn equinox. She had to fly to the Enchanted Forest all the way from her home in Dorset County (shire), England. She was afraid she would miss the party entirely, as it was so difficult "to fly over the oceans between us, gossamer wings battered by the storms and winds of change."

"Viviane", artist unknown

Leanne was only a bit late and was able to join in the festivities after all. She gifted me with a copy of her very favorite poem about King Arthur and Vivien, the Lady of the Fountain. Her name is also spelled Viviane, and she is better known as The Lady of the Lake.

THE THORN TREE

~

The night is sad with silver and the day is glad with gold,

And the woodland silence listens to a legend never old,

Of the Lady of the Fountain, whom the faerie people know,

With her limbs of samite whiteness and her hair of golden glow,

Whom the boyish South Wind seeks for and the girlish-stepping Rain;

Whom the sleepy leaves still whisper men shall never see again:

She whose Vivien charms were mistress of the magic Merlin knew,

That could change the dew to glow-worms and the glow-worms into dew.

~

There's a thorn tree in the forest, and the faeries know the tree,

With its branches gnarled and wrinkled as a face with sorcery;

But the May-time brings it clusters of a rainy fragrant white,

Like the bloom-bright brows of beauty or a hand of lifted light.

And all day the silence whispers to the sun-ray of the morn

How the bloom is lovely Vivien and how Merlin is the thorn:

~

How she won the doting wizard with her naked loveliness

Till he told her daemon secrets that must make his magic less.

How she charmed him and enchanted in the thorn-tree's thorns to lie

Forever with his passion that should never dim or die:

And with wicked laughter looking on this thing which she had done,

Like a visible aroma lingered sparkling in the sun:

~

How she stooped to kiss the pathos of an elf-lock of his beard,

In a mockery of parting and mock pity of his wyrd:

But her magic had forgotten that "who bends to give a kiss

Will but bring the curse upon them of the person whose it is":

So the silence tells the secret.--And at night the faeries see

How the tossing bloom is Vivien, who is struggling to be free,

In the thorny arms of Merlin, who forever is the tree.

~Madison Julius Cawein

 Another gift is from a blogging friend I met through Leanne. Kath from "Hillside Cottage" hails from the neighboring county of Somerset, England. She has the privilege of living in the most magical of all cities in the world, Glastonbury. Leanne has actually visited Kath in Glastonbury a number of times to participate in the festivals of the Celtic year. Oh, how I wish I could join them.

Knowing that it is my great dream to one day travel to Glastonbury and visit the sacred Chalice Well and climb its deeply spiritual hill, or Tor, Kath sent me the next best thing - A panoramic view from the top of the Tor. Here is the link: http://www.glastonburytor.org.uk/panorama.html

 

From  Morgaine came the gift of a website blog called "The Hermitage" to explore. She explains that it is "A little more folklore oriented, than fairy, but if you start back at the beginning of the blog, an extraordinary tale unfolds...". Here is the link:

http://www.intothehermitage.blogspot.com/

And finally, last certainly but not least, a gorgeous gift from WOL in Texas.

"Wind Moon" necklace by Nene Thomas

(Click to enlarge)

Remember, before you gasp at the extravagant gesture, that this is a virtual present!

Thanks so much to everyone for participating in this virtual party and gift giving. I hope you had as much fun as I did. Until next year . . .