Divinity in the darkness

(Nimue)

I met darkness on the hillside

Crouching low and heavy, unfriendly

In this landscape of ancient, nameless Gods

Who care nothing for human concerns

But stalk the wild ways in those long hours

When the world transforms in shadow.

Wood hunting wanderers, beings of awe

And terror. Vast and uncompromised.

Scuttle back to the small circle

Of protective light, the dark Gods

Will not trouble you if only

You do not seek them out, nor try

To summon, command or impress.

Know they are not for you, and curl

Into safety at the hearth side.

Hear their passing in the nervous bleating

Of huddled sheep – too tame for these

Uncanny hours and wilderness spirits.

Feel your smallness, your irrelevance

Enormity of hill, night, godhood

You are a speck in time, a flicker

Fleeting as the nearby sheep, fearful,

Alive and wise enough to recognise

What does not belong to you.