.
Beyond the hawthorn, lies the wild wood
“cuckoo, cuckoo”
.
.
over the threshold
forms and colours
of the Otherworld
.
.
… snake-eye stirs
.
‘
jaw click, snout
and a slither
of tongues
.
.
threat or supplication?
paw or claw?
who hears the cry
of the wild wood?
.
.
no-one here
.
anyone?
.
.
the oracle
of the wood
whispers:
.
.
… always the leaves
.
.
… always the light
.
≈≈≈
.
Hawthorn bushes and the call of a cuckoo conjure up the tale of Thomas the Rhymer a thirteenth century Scottish mystic, wandering minstrel and poet. Folklore tells of how Rhymer meets the Faery Queen by a hawthorn bush from which a cuckoo is calling. The Queen takes Rhymer on a journey of forty days and forty nights to enter the faery underworld. Some versions of the tale say Rhymer was in the underworld for a brief sojourn. Others say for seventy years, after becoming the Queen’s consort. Eventually, Rhymer returns to the mortal world where he finds he has been absent for seven years. The theme of travellers being waylaid by faery folk and taken to places where time passes faster or slower are common in Celtic mythology. The hawthorn is one of the most likely trees to be inhabited or protected by the faery folk.
The wild wood can be found amongst the terra incognita of farmland, old paths and hedgerows between the village of Pattiesmuir and Dunfermline, Fife.
Now playing: Bert Jansch – ‘The Tree Song’ from Birthday Blues.
Murdo Eason - From Hill to Sea 
19 replies on “The wild wood”
Reblogged this on Subliminal Spaces and commented:
I love this blog fifepsychoheography and this post particularly gripped me with its magical images that capture the wonderfully liminal quality of nature and even tumble down buildings being reclaimed slowly by the earth and it’s vegetation. The poetry has also distilled the intensity of the atmosphere – I found it to be of much comfort and inspiration as I struggle with some current health problems and with an awful brain fog. Thank you fifepsychoheography, I look forward to more 🙂
Thanks so much for the generous comment Roberta. It is much appreciated and glad that you enjoy the blog. I hope that your current health problems resolve themselves positively. Best wishes.
Thanks to you too and for the well wishes 🙂
Great piece, love the sense of enchantment and menace.
Thank you. I did try to keep it a bit ambiguous so good to hear that’s how you read it.
I love this foray into the wilds of the wood. Very imaginative and thought provoking!
I really enjoyed that. Thanks.
Oh, I remember ‘Thomas the Rhymer’ from my Steeleye Span days.
Love the discovery of windows and doors in the middle of the forest, as well as the sculptures and structures built into trees and stone – trembling architecture merging with nature and slowly becoming overcome with life. Are they hidden entryways into hidden worlds, perhaps? Will they still be there the next day? In the blink of an eye?
Thanks Aubrey. Yes Steeleye Span! Funnily enough it was only after I’d finished the post that I added the Thomas the Rhymer note. I was vaguely aware of the story but came across it again when having a look at the significance of hawthorn in folklore. It struck me that the act of walking through an absorbing landscape like this does alter the perspective of time. It is easy to ‘lose’ a few hours. The other aspect is that the ‘wild wood’ is basically sandwiched in a few miles of landscape between a moderately sized Scottish town and a very busy arterial road. On the map, it has very few ‘distinguishing features’ yet it was like entering a hidden world with the old buildings appearing as remnants of lost worlds.
Liked this post so much I have come back to read it again. Lovely. and thanks for the link to Mandy Haggith Hawthorn lore page – we’re lucky enough to have a Midland Hawthorn in the garden – deep rich pink blossom, so I think it’s a Paul’s Scarlet.
Thanks very much. Yes Mandy Haggith’s tree lore pages are fascinating. She is also a very fine poet. http://mandyhaggith.worldforests.org/poetry.asp Listen out for the cuckoo in the garden!
What a lovely post. Better watch out for the hawthorn trees when dog-walking – not sure they would be welcome in the fairy realm!
Thank you Ann and many thanks for reblogging.
Reblogged this on Annjrippin's Blog and commented:
Another blog that people who like mine might like – if you see what I mean.
Love the juxtaposition of images and poetry – just a hint of green menace here. Hawthorns, lining country lanes, at the edge of woodland, always seem to be at the threshold of a hidden world.
Thanks Laurence.Yes Hawthorns as threshold markers appear to be a recurring motif in folklore.
I love the theme of transformation. Psychogramarye, perhaps? Interesting that in Scott’s Lay of the Last Minstrel hawthorn is very much a species of the ‘good greenwood’ as well as open country. Isn’t the Eildon Tree thought to have been a hawthorn?
Thank you. I like the idea of Psychogramarye! I have seen references to the Eildon tree as a hawthorn and also noticed the mention of Thomas of Erceldoune in your latest post. Sounds like interesting research.
[…] that is deemed ‘featureless’. However, we already know that it hosts a coffin road and the wild wood. Today’s walk will reveal a few more surprises […]