Skip to main content

HEARTH OF MY HEART by Avellina Balestri


Hearth of My Heart

By Avellina Balestri

 

Home is calling

Tugging at the heart

Piercing it through

Like a fisherman’s hook

Like a net cast breaking

The skin of the sea

I’m being called home

To the place of belonging

Where the turf fire burns


And the cauldron boils

Where the grail overflows

And time is undone

 

Find me a thin place

Where water kisses land

Where the seals sing

And the salmon swim

Let my bowl be filled

With nuts and apples

And pour me spiced wine

From the warrior’s horn

Nine maidens to guard my sleep

Nine virtues to guide my path

 

Blessings on your door posts

And your crosses of Brighid

Welcoming the weary traveler

With a circle cast about me

A star of elements and wounds

Bring bright blessings, old and new

Of earth and water, fire and air

And the blood of God

Love’s royal wine

Drinking deeply

Souls bound fast

 

Let the winds roar

O circle me round!

I shall find the forest queen

Woodland fae turned Nazareth’s maid

And the bird’s song will sever time

And I will birth the Prince foretold

In Pendragon’s star

A homecoming, again…

To the moments of our waking

Through crystal shafts of healing

 

I shall find a home

In the hearth of my heart

Turf-fire flickers

In the eyes of strangers

Meeting, gaze to gaze

And Anam Cara is born

We are home to each other

And then, in ink-stained solitude,

I shall find my cell a haven

Where love may grow and stories flow

And I shall wait for the Guest to come

The table will be set

Bread broken, water poured

And the night shall fall

And the candle burn

And its beauty shall blaze all the brighter

In the embrace if the dark. 



Avellina Balestri is a Catholic author and editor based in the historic Maryland-Pennsylvania borderlands. Her stories, poems, and essays have been featured in over thirty print and online publications. Saplings of Sherwood, the first book in The Telling of the Beads Chronicles, is her debut novel. She is the Editor-in-Chief of Fellowship & Fairydust, a magazine inspiring faith & creativity and exploring the arts through a spiritual lens. Under its auspices, she hosted a literary conference at Lady Margaret Hall in Oxford, England, commemorating the legacy of J.R.R. Tolkien. Her hobbies include listening to and performing folk music, watching and reviewing classic films, and chatting with a zany array of international contacts about everything from theology to fandoms to muffin recipes. Avellina believes that the Trinitarian divine dance and Incarnational indwelling mystery are reflected in all things good, true, and beautiful, and that the image of God is wondrously woven into every human heart, bestowing every person with intrinsic dignity. These themes are at the forefront of the stories she chooses to tell. For more information about the author and her various projects, please visit her website, or connect with her on Facebook writer's page here. 

*For submission guidelines, click here.*

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

IMAGINE A WOMAN by Patricia Lynn Reilly

  This poem invites you to look upon yourself with loving kindness… Gazing at your own true reflection, you will discover that everything you have longed for “out there” is already within you! I invite you to love your creativity fiercely. Faithfully plant seeds, allowing under-the-ground dormant seasons, nurturing your creative garden with love and gratitude. In the fullness of time, the green growing things thrust forth from the ground. It's a faithful, trustworthy process. AND it takes time and patience.  Blessed is the fruit of your creative womb! I invite you to trust your vision of the world and express it. With wonder and delight, paint a picture, create a dance, write a book, and make up a song. To give expression to your creative impulses is as natural as your breathing. Create in your own language, imagery, and movement. Follow no script. Do not be limited by the customary way things have been expressed. Your creative intuition is original. Gather
18 comments
Read more

IMBOLC by Caroline Mellor

The inspiration for this poem came after I watched a magical winter sunset and full moonrise from the top of Firle Beacon in the South Downs... Unusually for me, I wrote the poem quite quickly and changed it very little before publishing it – perhaps the energies were working through my pen! Imbolc is the mid-point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. It’s a fire festival which I particularly love because of its associations with Brigid, the Celtic Mother Goddess of arts and crafts, clear sight, healing, inspiration and nurturance of creative talents – something which, through my writing, I am always trying to connect with.  I also love Imbolc because, with so much darkness and negativity in the world today, it is a time for hope, potential, visioning and initiation. With love and blessings as the light returns. Photography by Chanel Baran IMBOLC    by Caroline Mellor I am the dream of awakening. I am the returning of the night.  I am the tough green
1 comment
Read more

WINTER SOLSTICE: A GIFT OF LOVE by Carolyn Riker

I’ve had several days now of alone time… It is unusual and a gift that I couldn’t see until I breathed it. I have been able to watch the sun’s rise through the grey of dawn and smile at the flickers of frost melting on the waving boughs of evergreen. It’s unique to follow daylight as it traverses the tempo of a cat’s soft slumbering purr. Night comes swifter and the glow of candles and the flames of fire comfort me more than the steady stream of always-doing-more. As much as I resisted, I needed this break. I had no idea how much my body was trying to tell me   slow down   until the exhaustion settled in around my joints. My eyes swam in molasses. Heaviness of I-can’t-hold-out-much-long, walked me to the throne of my nest. It’s winter’s gift of self-nurturing and love. It’s been a quiet proclamation of femininity and a need for comfort foods. Lemon crisps and cranberry, white-chocolate shortbread dipped in tea; I felt a hint of being pampered without
5 comments
Read more