Herecura
The heat is lying on the land.
Sun rays are pouring down.
On yonder fields they cut the corn
And make the hay chasing the butterflies
From grass and flowers doomed
Falling beneath the iron sickle of the harvester.
Soon they will sit in orchards, celebrate
And sing and dance with the sun setting,
Bleeding last light.
I will be watching from the woodland-
a little while at least.
I am not one of them.
Deep in the wood is Herecura’s shrine
The long forgotten stone
Of the dark Lady of Abundance
and secret ways.
A dream You have become now to the people,
A long lost memory,
The unknown queen
sharing the throne with Dis, the Father.
Does Your moss-covered image feel my footfall
The rhythm of my pulses
My heart-beat on old ways,
the sacrifice of harvest
dripping from my fingers:
The blood-red juice of berries,
The salty water of my tears
When I brush past Your shrine
Into the arms and the embrace of my beloved?
photograph by Angelika Heike Rüdiger
Herecura is a Gallo-Roman deity of the “underworld” and of fertility and abundance…deep in a wood I found what is left of her image. It is a poetic coincidence that her image is close to triple cross-road still and this recalled Hecate. This place inspired me greatly.