Are We Awakening?
23rd March 2021
Are we awakening from this nightmare
or have we been asleep too long?
A year on and we are in mourning
for all the people who have gone
with the ash, the elm, the honey bees…
Are we awakening from this nightmare
or are our eyes too filled with sleep
to see the next wave coming - not always
from overseas but arising in our midst
from the depths of the suffering soul?
Are we awakening from this nightmare
or are we falling deeper into dreams of before -
already an illusion of paradise dripping honey?
All we want served up on a golden plate
at a fairy banquet bodies touching?
Are we awakening from this nightmare
or are we forgetting we are in a dream
rather than learning how to dream-walk
with the Father of the Land of Nod,
the figures of the suffering soul?
Are we awakening from this nightmare
or is there far more left to be dreamt
before the Dream Father puts his hand
on our shoulders, bids us to sit up,
rub our eyes and awaken?
This poem was written following the anniversary of the first lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the UK. We have been under lockdown with varying restrictions since. A year on our vaccination programme appears to be working and restrictions are easing. Yet cases in Europe and other parts of the world are on the rise and it remains clear that, even if, globally, we manage to control the virus, we will be faced with other diseases, droughts, famines, and natural disasters as a result of the climate crisis.
To me, the problems we face result from a loss of our animistic beliefs in nature as ensouled, inspirited, filled with gods and spirits. From the soul-loss that has resulted from their suppression by Christianity, scientific rationalism, capitalism, and Empire. If we had retained our respect for the land and its deities we would not have exploited them for resources and brought about the climate crisis. Until we win back these beliefs, see the world around us as ensouled, we will not awaken.
The ‘Father of the Land of Nod’ is Nodens, a Brythonic god of dreams and healing.
Lorna Smithers
is a poet, author, awenydd, Brythonic polytheist, and devotee of Gwyn ap Nudd. Her three books: Enchanting the Shadowlands, The Broken Cauldron, and Gatherer of Souls are published by the Ritona imprint of Gods & Radicals Press. Based in Penwortham, Lancashire, North West England, she is a conservation intern and allotmenteer who is learning to grow small green things and listen to the land. She blogs at ‘From Peneverdant’.