Brighid Poetry Festival: This Fire Will Not Die

The 6th Annual Brighid Poetry Festival is an internet tradition to honor Brighid, Goddess of Smithcraft and Poetry.

It is that time of year again, when bloggers around the world post a favorite poem in honor of Brigid, the Irish goddess and patron saint of smithcraft, poetry, and healing. Brigid’s feast day is February 1st, so between now and then is the perfect time to publish a poem to celebrate.

Here at Pantheon we decided to join in:

This Fire Will Not Die by Star Foster

This fire will not die.

It cannot be quieted,
nor made demure,
this fire, red-white,
that burns in my belly,
engulfs my heart
and leaps from my head.

My hands, see how small?
They are different as night and day.
One is spotless dancing over sheepskin,
the other is calloused and black as soot.

The fire lives in both of my hands,
bright and dark, shaping, smoothing,
ever flickering and healing in the dark.
They cannot be extinguished.

I am the one who never left,
who merely changed robes
in the other room when you
were not looking. My fire
still burns, the embers flying
like sparks among my diaspora:
red fire to feed the spirit.

Banked, never extinguished,
holy tongues of passion
my women tend singing
my many names, all spokes
radiating like heat, like fire,
from this triskele hub.

I live there, in the crackle,
in the swift movement,
in flashing eyes, songs
of a scattered people,
I live.

This fire will not die.