A Song for Lughnasadh

As noted in our earlier post on the relationship of the early Aurum Solis to the old Celtic fire festivals, Melita Denning composed several brief lyrics to celebrate these cross-quarter days. Little has been written on the exchange between our Hermetic style of working and those working to restore the ‘green ray’ in the mid 20th century, but it was a vital period. Indeed, initiates of the tradition were involved in the short-lived Order LVX in Tenebris, a joint working with Ross Nichols of the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids.

We present below Melita Denning’s Song for Lughnasadh, a duet perhaps originally intended for ritual singing, and extend to all the warm wishes of the House of the Caduceus at harvest time.

A Song for Lughnasadh

[He:]  
O beauty’s blossom, most cruel maid,
A grievous foe have you been to me:
My heart you took and my trust betrayed
And smiled as I sank in the dark sea.
But why, why did you turn away
And why so faithless when I was true?
O, summer love has its shining day,
But winter love watches the night through!

 [She:]   ‘
Twas you, O golden my lord, confessed
To my loving ear your immortal race,
And if I tricked you I did but jest
Yet perish now lacking your kind grace.
O, blame be to the wind that drives
My fainting steps where the first leaves fly!
For winter love with the pine-tree thrives
But summer love will with its bloom die.

 [He:] My sweet and fairest one, live to seal
Our bond of love in my light anew!
O turn to me as the heavens wheel,
For I am returned to seek you:
So turn again to me now at last
And we shall fear for no wind that blows:
For winter love through the storm holds fast,
And summer love laughs with the red rose!

 [Both:]
The year declines from its summer height
In burning glory of autumn gold,
Yet pales already the early light
And stubble stands in the mists cold:
But leads winter to spring’s new birth
While love and wonder their treasures pour,
Still bringing down to this mortal earth
The beams of a deathless splendour.