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Ashes on the ocean: a solstice song
sing, oh heroes
all you here
around this pyre.
sing now
shivering glorious
sea drunk and battle hardened from these years
these strange flowing years
that have not killed us.
sing
yes.
though we will die
we are not dead.
the years and the sea have not yet collected us—even as we venture in them
plunging into the dark waves
with eels and dragons
with strange suns and waning moon
with the bite of cold
signalling to us with deep knowing passion.
sing.
this pyre before us
is not today for us.
it burns solstice time.
it bathes us in ash of a once mighty tree.
a ghost joining our wild spirits
living on in the clear eyes
and sinews
and strengths
gathered here now.
we receive.
so breathe—
wade into the cold
away from home and the known
breathe—
the allway invitation of the ocean
breathe new shores and new ways
breathe a new light in a new time.
receive now here.
touch your hand to the ground—
you will know.
spread your toes in the sand—
in that soil—
you will hear.
and feel the flame of this dawn fire—
so you will burn.
sing yes
with all breath
sing yes.