Battle of Trees

Our language of love

The Battle of Trees

We fought side by side

No one had more

Sharper consonants than you, love

And my vowels, well, were trusted

First comes the Birch

Rowan followed by the Ash

Then through the Alder she forms

And merges with Willow

The Hawthorne blossoms

As the Oak guards the door

She is the hinge on which the year swings

He courts the lightning flash and her

Summoning the spirits

Through incantations

You said the Thunder God seems to have

And our enemies are the Reed

But we knew the Furies held the Holly sacred

We were insulated

In a circle of words we'd drawn

With wisdom sent from nine Hazels

A Rowan fire and a Willow rod

At ten comes the vine

That generates bramble wine

The constant change of the night sun

A song in the blood of the white bull

Our language of love

The Battle of Trees

We fought side by side

No one had more

Sharper consonants than you, love

And my vowels, well, were trusted

From Ivy leaves is an ale that can unveil

The hidden meanings and serpents

Only revealed through visions

Yes vowels could insert

"A" was for the Silver Fir

The Firs of course

Then came next

With Heather at her most

Passionate

The White Poplar's gift to the souls of the dead

A promise that it was not the end

But for the vine the "U", it's coffer

Vowels and consonants

The power of trees

The power they hold

The power of prose

So when the church

Began to twist the old myths

They built their own Tower of Babel

From Ulster to Munster

The Reed gave way then

To the Elder

The Earth turns her will

So that night follows day

From dawn to dawn

Fom Winter to Winter

At day the Ash had power over the Alder

Our language of love

The Battle of Trees

We fought side by side

Then he said to me:

"I've dodged bullets and even poisoned arrows

Only to be foiled by the blade of a vowel"