I wanted to share this poem by Patricia Monaghan.  I was reading the Winter chapter from her book “Seasons of the Witch”. The book appears to be out of print but you can get the CD set that accompanied it as an MP3 download or for CD purchase on Amazon.  It’s a fantastic collection of poems and songs for the year.  Some are very clearly “witchy” while others are less obviously Pagan but still evoke the energy and feel of the season.  The poem I’m going to share with you here is one that I found really interesting to have in the winter section but after spending time meditating on it I found it to be a truly wonderful winter piece.

Snow White one the Apple

I help it up, solid in my hands,
flesh of the tree, dense as rock,
gleaming like crimson secrets.

It smelled like earth spice.
It smelled like dusky water.
It smelled like the ghost of roses.

Of course I knew it was the apple
of forgetfulness.  But oh, sister,
how much I needed to forget:

the assaults, the berayals,
the abandonments.  I did not bite
into that fruit in ignorance.

This is exactly what I wanted:
stillness, glassy beauty, peace.
This is exactly what I wanted.