Old Man, Queen of Heaven

for Peter Caddy, 1917-1994


Peter Caddy (L) and the author outside her house in Somerset, early 1990s

The sun deepens in the southern way,
Layers of orange and peach and apple red.
Eden re-opens her gates, offers her trees,
Recalling us home to original delights

My child runs green and naked in the grey Atlantic rain
North is south, time stands still, the spindle turns,
My father's face is round and good, sword in hand
My mother's dark and deep, the war has passed

Life is a roundabout and we're inside out
Learning lessons till we die of knowledge.
Brother hears my plea and Persephone arises from a watery grave
Sister, bitter in her wound, marks me for a whore

I am dark and sweet.
Fallen from the tree of life.
Where Lilith sits in grace
Bequeathing Sister Eve her lot

I shall play until she drops me
I shall dare all when she awakes
The sun is her golden chariot,
The man in the moon her son

She sets to give us thought.
She turns to care for others.
Too much light can destroy.
Too much darkness deathen.

In the garden Apollo and I dance together.
The Olympians gaze amazed.
We shall stride alien worlds.
We shall birth a new civilisation

The old man in the new garden(1)
speaks of the stations of the cross

The nature spirits rise at dawn to greet us.
The elementals make peace to give us grace.
The Angel of Findhorn is born.
The Vision of Albion embodied.

Remember to re-member, the old man(2) said
who travelled many worlds on his magic carpets

The old man who was not
On the Roman bus where all roads lead
Who had his say in many tongues

I did not forget

The sun shines and sets
Deep down into these southern lands
Where shamans once spoke with rattlesnakes
And the Queen of Heaven had Her rightful place

The old man(3) marked out the lineaments of the Star Nation
On the Anasazi ground his ancestors died on for

Trees remember more
Spiral-speak of pyramidal shapes
Plateaus against the horizon
Mounds in memory of the principal peoples

An old man waits for me inside the Mound of his choice
He sends his messengers to guide me well

1 Peter Caddy, Co-Founder of the spiritual community in North East Scotland, the Findhorn Community
2 Gurdjieff, author, spiritual teacher and carpet merchant
3 Sam Small Eagle, veteran and spiritual teacher


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