You laid down your mask

And drank me into your secret.

Those spirals of ecstasy

Where the grandmothers are the guardians

Players of light and dark

Blowing shadows of smoke

On the faces that gather to celebrate in our awakening.

For all the blood spilt;

This is the reclaiming

This is the ceremony

The meeting of prayers buried in the cinders

Bring the bones back to dance

Where the flesh is forgotten and hands are laid down

To feel the earth breathing and beating with love

The waters that carry the promise of new life are the offering

Death is the rhythm that shakes

Me from my memories

To remembering.

Poem by Lucy Rebecca Horwood’