WHITE RAVEN NIGHTS ~ A Norse Tale Retold

There are nights
when the moon floats
above the pointed forest,
a gleaming disk of bone
in a sharp obsidian sky

There are nights
when the moon burns so brightly
that every pine needle, every fox whisker,
every glimmering drop of dew,
even the weaving, white wind
casts a clean, sharp shadow

It is said
on such moon thick  nights
Odin rides the forest,
a witch whisper dancing down the shadow wind,
and Sleipnir bears him;
eight heavy hoofs striking the ground
without a sound
eight heavy hoofs leaving
no mark

These are the Raven Nights
when that secret bird of midnight black
turns as white as the milk washed moon
floating on feathers of silver,
drifting down on wings of pearl
on moon white Raven Nights,
they speak in the human tongue


Would you dare
that luminous blazing lily light?
Would you walk where any whispered wraith of wind
Might bring you face to face with He
Who left his eye in Mimir's spring
And hung nine days from Yggdrasill
Pierced by his own spear?

And if you dare, and if you walk and if
You meet those Raven’s of white
Birds of snow, who cast no shadow
In the spellbound shadowed  wood …
Will you tell or will you ask?

Will you declare to them your stories,
Your poems, your eddas, and sagas
Or will you ask for theirs?
And if you dare to ask
Your deepest queries,
Your most sacred questions …
Will you believe the replies
Of this whitewashed trickster?

Will you gaze into eggshell eyes
Asking …Muninn? … Huginn? …is it you?
What will you tell me of
Memory? Thought?
Or will you look for a Raven with only one white eye?
A shape-shifter, who just might be carrying
Upon his ivory back
Óð-rœrir

Óð-rœrir, brimming with the mead of inspiration
That exalted elixir
With which the All Father gifts
His most Gifted Bards

Poet, abroad in a White Raven Night
Under an Alabastar Moon
Will you trade him your shadow
For a swallow?


©Edwina Peterson Cross

Re: WHITE RAVEN NIGHTS ~ A Norse Tale Retold

I need to share this with my daughet (Raven)  Everyone always asks me, How could you name a sweet, blonde haired child Raven?  The answer is that it was simply, always her name from the beginning.  She would love this, as do I. 

Thank You

Wings

Re: WHITE RAVEN NIGHTS ~ A Norse Tale Retold

Dear Wings ~

I have another Raven tale for your Raven and some more pictures. I have also tickeled my friend Raven just enough that she has let us know that Raven's just want to have fun! (See at Stuff-n-Nonsense). It is a totem and name of great diversity with more to it than most people know. So: Here is to Raven!! May she always fly on Wings of Wonder!

Corvidophilia - (The Love of Ravens)

Gray rain whips the world with wind
The mountains are white, awash in mist
Above the sound of the howling storm -
The moaning of the pines, the wailing of the weather -
The ravens can still be heard calling
From treetop, to treetop; barren and clear
The sound of hollow wet bone

Do you wake up drinking darkness,
That your eye should be so black, so black
Ebony, pitch, shining like sharply cut jet
Polished to an acid edge with purpose
What do you see? What knowledge do you keep
In the darkness of that black, black eye?

They say you are a trickster, but it is wisdom
I feel behind the dipped ink of your gaze
Insight, creation, what all I will never know
For you hood yourself with a slow blink
Mystery bird the shade of nightwind
Lady of secrets, enigma on wings
You will not be known

They will find your feathers
In places you have never been
Could these be amulets, charms, sliced from the midnight sky?
Cut out with the sharpest, burning, knifewhite stars
Dusted with a silent mist of moon?
Wherever they have come from
They tumble to earth in the simple shape and seeming of Raven feathers
But they carry this strong corvidae blessing:
Shadow wings stretch as a shield above you
Sharp, onyx eyes watch as a ward over you
Constant
Unblinking
Blessed Be

And You …
Nature's wanton riddle wrapped in ebony
You still sail the treetops
As black as the memory of every darkness
Missing a tail feather here and there …
With a cry that sounds like it will tear your throat
You alight on a branch too slender

As it breaks beneath you …
Your secrets splash against the sky

Black eyes blaze brilliant with
Laughter …
As the wild wind catches your widespread
Wings …



© Edwina Peterson Cross
(For My Raven ~ And all the Raven's that Be)

Zaadz is having a “Senior Moment” or a “Midle of the Night” Moment or something. I will add more photos when it decides to get over it. In the meanwhile  … did you notice that the Raven seems to be eatting the moon quite often?
Why is that and what does it mean?………Moon Munching …