"Unicorn"

 

 

 

Unicorn  by Ella Young

Forth from the Wood of Dreams last night,
(The ensorcelled Wood that my heart fears.)
There came a Unicorn more white
Than blossoming first the thorn appears:
A lovely perilous sight
Lifting desirous lips to berries of the yew-tree,
The poison-sweet red berries of the yew!

All as it went the way was flowered
With slender lilies honey-dowered:
It crushed them head by scarlet head
Nor grieved the last that they were dead
Nor that its stained hooves were red,
Lifting desirous lips to berries of the yew-tree,
The poison-sweet red berries of the yew.

Published:  Horn Book, March 1939 and Smoke of Myrrh, 1950

Sarah Orne Jewett

I discovered the New England author Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909) in the early 1980's and this passage has stayed with me all these years. Each time I walk in a garden, or work with my own herbs, I remember her words and the vivid imagery she evokes.

La Joie des Choses, 1884 by Armand Point Musée des beaux-arts de Nancy

“...but the discovery was soon made that Mrs. Todd was an ardent lover of herbs, both wild and tame, and the sea-breezes blew into the low end-window of the house laden with not only sweet-brier and sweet-mary, but balm and sage and borage and mint, wormwood and southernwood. If Mrs. Todd had occasion to step into the far corner of her herb plot, she trod heavily upon thyme, and made its fragrant presence known with all the rest. Being a very large person, her full skirts brushed and bent almost every slender stalk that her feet missed. You could always tell when she was stepping about there, even when you were half awake in the morning, and learned to know, in the course of a few weeks' experience, in exactly which corner of the garden she might be.“
From: The Country of the Pointed Firs, 1896 by Sarah Orne Jewett

In Celebration of Lughnasadh

STORIES FROM CELTIC WONDER TALES by Ella Young

Photograph by Denise Sallee
© Denise Sallee 2010

(1910 )
from the tale  THE COMING OF LUGH

The Spear was in the lake then. Great clouds of steam rose about it from the black water. Out of the hissing steam Demons of the Air were born. The Demons were great and terrible. There was an icy wind about them. They found their way into Ireland. They took prey there in spite of the De Danaans. They made broad tracks for themselves. The Fomor followed in their tracks. It was then that misfortune came to the De Danaans. The people of the Fomor got the better of the De Danaans. They took the Cauldron of Plenty and the Magic Harp from the Dagda. They made themselves lords and hard rulers over the De Danaans, and they laid Ireland under tribute. They were taking tribute out of it ever and again till Lugh Lauve Fauda came. 'Twas he that broke the power of the Fomor and sent the three sons of Dana for the Spear. They had power to draw it out of the lake. They gave it to Lugh, and it is with him it is now, and 'tis he will set it up again in the middle of Ireland before the end of the world.



 At the Gates of Dawn: A Collection of Writings by Ella Young. Edited by John Matthews & Denise Sallee 

The Sea-Kings Daughters

Image by Denise Sallee
© Denise Sallee 2015

From  THE MASK TOOTHED WITH JACINTH by Ella Young.
Included in:

At the Gates of Dawn: A Collection of Writings by Ella Young.

Returning

Photo by Nuala McNulty. Image by Denise Sallee. 
© Denise Sallee 2015

Ella Young is a character in a novel I am writing. It is very exciting to bring her to life in this way. She has influenced my life in so many ways over the last eight years, not least of all by sending me off to live in Ireland for one very precious year.

I no longer live in an old stone cottage on a hill in North Leitrim. Instead, I find myself in a cozy space on a hill in California where the Pacific Ocean stretches before me to the west and to the south the Santa Lucia Mountains roll down to Big Sur.

Hawks and vultures circle above me like dark shadows against the blue sky. Tall pines stand sentry as they sing their ancient songs, their highest branches nodding to me as I walk among the quail and the rabbits and tall grasses of my meadow.

After a life time as a nomad is it possible to grow roots? Do they even want to find a home here?

Sometimes life hands you circumstances that leave you with little room for negotiation. Responsibilities finally outweigh the dream chasing. And perhaps, when the chasing has ceased, there is time to sort through what remains and hold close that which has always been the constant - the unwavering - yearning of my soul.

Leave of Absence

I am taking a break from this blog as I pursue some new projects (always with Ella at my side).  

The best way to really get to know Ella Young is by reading her words. 

Available on Amazon and through Skylight Press in England.