Selkie Lore

Ursilla went to the rock
She saw the Selkie there
And as the waves washed against the rock
She shed seven tears.

The Selkie made a pact
To come at the seventh stream
So on the night of the high spring tide
He came in human form.

Her cold beauty shone
As they walked beneath the Moon
He looked at her with his his clear grey eyes
As deep as welling springs.

Like a river running free
Across a beach to the waves
She gave up all her sweetness then
To a salty embrace.

It is said that she had a child
That was born with webbed toes
But all this happened too long ago
For anyone to know.

(Adapted from an Orkney folk tale - a version of which is HERE)

Aengus Óg

A distant sense of Aengus Óg

No more than knowledge of this god

Is brought to bear upon my mind

And yet I hear a nearer sound:

A harp elusive on the wind

So close that I can hear the strings

Could it be for me they sing

Like birds in the early summer dawn

Or the sigh of wind through bending grasses,

Or do I merely hear what passes

On the breeze for others to perceive?

Perhaps, but then a listening ear

Is also there, a curious stare

Wondering who might be hovering

At the edges of the whispered speech

And so I wait a turn to speak

And, if invited, say my piece

As yet unsure how to approach this god.

Rain in the Night

The following poem was written after performing a funeral rite for the person named. It was a very moving occasion as we committed his ashes to the land where he had held rites over many years. A bagpiper played a haunting melody as he was committed to the darkness and his own words, embracing that very darkness, were read out. Various bits of his writing are scattered around the Internet, often represented as secret lore, though it was all written for public consumption. This is my memento of him.



Rain in the Night

i.m. Tony Kelly

We sat late in your lonely house

the unlit dark about it

as I listened, trying to know your gods.

Speech failed us

it seemed we had nothing left

to say. A gust of wind moved

outside driving a patter of raindrops

against the window ...

Then silence again

till you were moved to say

“Rain in the Night

it’s a god isn’t it?”

and I knew though there was nothing

I could say

what you meant


And I shared a silent prayer

with you for

Rain in the Night


all those years ago

and I think of it now

as we offer your ashes

to the trees you planted


and the ghost of your words

like Rain in the Night.