Lawrence Hall
https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com
What
I Found While Cleaning a Faeries’ Well
Perhaps it was because I cleared
the vines
The ancient vines, with tools
of iron, of steel
And traced the circles of the
well’s lost lines
With my unhallowed hands, by
touch and by feel
Or that I wore my boots, or
forgot my prayers
To the White Lady said to haunt
this place
Or whistled secular songs,
careless airs
Until the dusk, when I came
face-to-face…
I have lived to tell of this
wildest of adventures
I found on the lichened stone –
a set of dentures
Despite
my disapproval of exposition:
Until
we became Roman and respectable, my Celtic and English ancestors made offerings
at sacred wells associated with pixies and fairies and a mysterious White Lady,
or Sheela na Gig.
I
regret that the old well in my yard, the surviving structure from an old
farmstead, is probably not a sacred well, or at least no more than any other
well. While I was cleaning away the English ivy (which in English folklore binds
lovers), I found on the edge of a brick a denture plate from years ago.
When
I have finished cleaning the well, covering it with a sturdy concrete disc for
safety, and topping it with a wrought-iron arch, I will add a crucifix.
I
hope the resident Sheela / White Lady won’t mind.
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