At the Altar Rock

Aloud we remember our dead.
As we speak their names at the altar,
we pour out our libations.
The altar rock runs red with wine.
Then, over our clay imaginings
of Divinity beyond our ken,
we stream our offerings
of creamy milk and thick rich honey.

Blessed be the Source of Life, we say,
and the circle of life and death
that gives regeneration.
And when the Goddess vessel
streams libation from her breasts
down upon our altar rock,
we honor the hidden nurture
ready to flow from our own.

As we move our bodies in the ritual,
communal power surges through us.
We offer one another sustenance
of honeyed nuts and wine.
The Goddess lifts us from our grief:
Not dead, she whispers.
And we, restored to original grace,
from the womb of the Goddess Mother,
emerge.

©Susa Silvermarie 2019