{"id":223,"date":"2009-04-15T21:55:58","date_gmt":"2009-04-15T21:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/apagansblog\/2009\/04\/a-pagan-poem-catechism-for-a-witchs-child.html"},"modified":"2009-04-15T21:55:58","modified_gmt":"2009-04-15T21:55:58","slug":"a-pagan-poem-catechism-for-a-witchs-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2009\/04\/a-pagan-poem-catechism-for-a-witchs-child.html","title":{"rendered":"A Pagan Poem: Catechism for a Witch’s Child"},"content":{"rendered":"

Years ago I came across the following poem<\/a>, by J. L. Stanley.  I no longer remember quite how I came across it, but have always been grateful I did.  I want to share it now..<\/p>\n

When they ask to see your gods<\/font><\/p>\n

your book of prayers<\/font><\/div>\n
show them lines<\/font><\/div>\n
drawn delicately with veins<\/font><\/div>\n
on the underside of a bird’s wing<\/font><\/div>\n
tell them you believe<\/font><\/div>\n
in giant sycamores mottled<\/font><\/div>\n
and stark against a winter sky<\/font><\/div>\n
and in nights so frozen<\/font><\/div>\n
stars crack open spilling<\/font><\/div>\n
streams of molten ice to earth<\/font><\/div>\n
and tell them how you drink<\/font><\/div>\n
a holy wine of honeysuckle<\/font><\/div>\n
on a warm spring day<\/font><\/div>\n
and of the softness<\/font><\/div>\n
of your mother who never taught you<\/font><\/div>\n
death was life’s reward<\/font><\/div>\n
but who believed in the earth<\/font><\/div>\n
and the sun<\/font><\/div>\n
and a million, million light years<\/font><\/div>\n
of being<\/font><\/p>\n

I looked around and discovered  Stanley has a wonderful if all too brief site<\/a>.  <\/p>\n

The poem seems to have been removed from this site, but I found it elsewhere and think it is one of the most beautiful Pagan things I have ever been blessed to read.  The poet has some of the feel of Robinson Jeffers<\/a> to me, but with much more heart.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Years ago I came across the following poem, by J. L. Stanley.  I no longer remember quite how I came across it, but have always been grateful I did.  I want to share it now.. When they ask to see your gods your book of prayers show them lines drawn delicately with veins on the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-pagan-culture"],"yoast_head":"\nA Pagan Poem: Catechism for a Witch's Child - A Pagan's Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2009\/04\/a-pagan-poem-catechism-for-a-witchs-child.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Pagan Poem: Catechism for a Witch's Child - A Pagan's Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Years ago I came across the following poem, by J. 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