a poem for Brigid

Fifteen years ago, I gave birth to my son on January 30th. This week, as I reflected on which poem I would dedicate to Brigid, I kept coming back to the poem he wrote for me two years ago. My son was conceived on Beltane and was born a few days before Brigid. From the beginning I have felt my son was a gift from the Goddess. Being a teenager, his task now is to rebel. He’s doing a good job of it. He was the quarterback on his football team at the Catholic High School he fought to go to. He is more straight arrow than this queer witch can fathom. Being fifteen, he’s embarrassed by just about everything I do and say. Two years ago he wrote this for me, and in the last few months I've returned to it again and again. I am so thankful for him. And for poetry, life, and love. It has all come back. And just keeps coming.

The One

The water for the seed

The one who grows

The young. The teacher.

You are the oak for

The acorn. The one

Who stands tall like

A tree in a blizzard.

You are the one.

The one who put

The pieces to the

Puzzle for your

Beloved. The energy

For the light. You

Are the base of love.

You are the one. The

One who is the silk for

The cozy sheets. You

Are the roots of life.

You give out love and now

Love is coming back. Love

Is coming back to the one.

The one who is the saver.

You are the one. The one

Who makes the hot chai

In the morning. The one who

Yells at me to wake up, to

Stop playing the early morning

Rap. The one who goes out of her

Way to give me love, but this

Time, all that love is right

Back to you.

Casey Cooper Quirke 2/9/05

Comments

Anonymous said…
deborah, this one's for you...J

*****************************

kissing you
in the doorway

cells shot through
with current

re-arranged
in a line to you
11:34 PM
Anonymous said…
Beautiful poem.

Here's my Imbolc effort in honour of Brighid.
3:52 AM
Anonymous said…
Conceived on Beltane and born on January 30th? That is my birthday too, but I'd never even thought about when I might have been started.

What a wonderful notion to start off this day! Thank you for mentioning it.
5:07 AM
Anonymous said…
I'm SO glad you published Casey's beautiful poem.

Here's a gorgeous verse written by our beloved W.B. Yeats, published by my friend Jane a knitter, someone I met last year through this poetry reading.

Much love to you.
5:54 AM
Anonymous said…
That's a lovely poem from a son. Wow...
6:22 AM
Anonymous said…
He wrote that poem at 13? He'll be fine. What a lovely talent he has. I hope he knows that.

The other day I was having tea with a friend whose daughter is now 21 or so, living in San Francisco, an artist and passionate activist. When she was 15, she entered a beauty pageant! Her hippie macrobiotic shaman mother just about died. But they've come through the other side and are as close, and similar, as it turns out, as ever.
8:03 AM
Anonymous said…
Here's my second contribution to the event - I had to have a different poem on each of my blogs ;)
8:27 AM
Anonymous said…
(as usual, 2nd try)
d - loved deeply, by two particularly as evidenced this morning....how lucky you are to recognize it doesn't look the same, arrive the same, live the same...

poem for Brigid a lovely idea, connectings ones......
k
9:09 AM
Anonymous said…
That poem is so good.

Here is the one I wrote this morning:
http://www.thorncoyle.com/musings.htm
11:41 AM
Anonymous said…
Here is my effort (as invited by Katrinka) at Much Ado about Everything...
5:50 PM
earthchick said…
Wow. That is so lovely. He's gifted! And what a beautiful tribute to you.

Favorite line:
You are the base of love.
7:02 PM
Mael Brigde said…
Oh, my goodness, what a wonderful gift to you, and to Brigit, who so loved her son.
7:12 PM
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