February in Fuenteheridos
Breathe in, Breathe deep, its Imbolc* time
Bright skies beyond the blue bring warmth
To Southern earths where sap will rise
No snowdrops here brave bitter blasts
Wild hoops of rarest daffodils defy a different death
A peacock butterfly with wounded wing
Spread out to bathe upon a post
Did it feel the bite upon its wing?
Which hungry bird has lost its meal?
Burnished buzz of black on florets of pink.
Black cap birds peck at rotting fruit
Crag martins search for homes in holy walls.
All push back Winters’ cold short days
As Spring begins its hot embrace
And rain falls further and further away.
In that other place.
I have written this poem and chosen some of our February sightings around Fuenteheridos in the Sierra Aracena, Southern Spain. The mountains are around 500 to 600m above sea level and winters can be cold. The area has reasonable biodiversity and I hope it will add to the spirit of Earthweal’s aims to help us all connect more with nature.
- Earthweal is a poetry forum dedicated to global witness of the Earth’s changing climate and its effect on daily life. Here is a place to report that news in the language of the dream, that we may more deeply appreciate the magnitude of those events. It is intended as a place for all related emotions—love and rage, grief and hope, myth and magic, laughter and ghost whistles—and belongs to the entire community of Earth as mediated by its human advocates.
Sarah Conner invites us to write seasonal poems and the first is inspired by Imbolc in February.
‘*Today, I want to think about * Imbolc. Traditionally celebrated at the start of February, Imbolc is a festival of new life and new beginnings. The name derives from “in the belly” — the first stirrings of life, seeds starting to sprout.’
I am also linking this to Dverse who as a bunch of great poets and their Mr Linky inspired me to play around and write poems publicly! And to Lillian who is hosting the OLN. I hope she and all of you can meet up soon with your families. A big Spanish Abrazos Fuerte to all.
https://dversepoets.com/category/openlinknight/
Check out Dverse if you want to be inspired by a variety of prompts and poets.
Lovely poem! So eloquent!
Incidentally, a variant of the original Celtic version of “Imbolc” translates as “ewe’s milk,” a reference to the births of lambs in this season, a traditional sign of renewal. Not exactly sure how all of that morphed to groundhogs, though, unless the reference relates to their coming out of their burrows. From the darkness of winter into the light of spring, maybe.
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Thanks, Denise, yes words can morph strangely but often have their base in seasonal or farming practice. Weal seems to have changed too and becomes more wealthy than whole and healthy!
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I see you love nature as much as I do. Lovely poem. It gives me hope for spring.
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Lovely to meet a fellow spirit. Look forward to seeing more of your blog and thanks for the follow.
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Sweet poem… happy Imbolc!
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Thanks, Eliza and Igualamente a ti.
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Gracias!
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One other dVerse writer used the prompt from this site, and introduced me to the Imbolc festival. What a wonderful tradition. I love your post here and most especially these words:
“A peacock butterfly with wounded wing
Spread out to bathe upon a post
Did it feel the bite upon its wing?”
You have excellent imagery in this post.
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Thanks Lillian, the reminder from the photos helped of the butterfly with the ragged bitten wing.Observing nature helps but I need notes and photos too!
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Happy Imbolc! 🙂 This is absolutely breathtaking! I love; “Wild hoops of rarest daffodils defy a different death.”
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Thanks, yes, those tiny wild daffodils are now so rare but people will still pick them. There is only one rocky hillside where we find them now.
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Very nice – it made me fell all warm inside – which is no easy feat, here on a dark damp miserable looking night here in the UK, where the sky is low Spring has yet to think of springing! Thankyou…
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Yes, it is a little earlier in southern Spain and the sun higher. But still very cold at night.
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Georgina, love those photos and your verse to go with them. The martin one is my favorite.
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Thanks, some past February photos and the crag martins seem to pass by and settle elsewhere as these walls are for the swifts that should be arriving soon. Some crag martins live in an old mosque nearby on a hill( from the time of the moors, 1400s) then converted into a church and hopefully now an abandoned sanctuary for the birds!
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Maybe the holy people return to their sanctuary in the form of birds 🙂 Sounds like a breathtakingly beautiful place.
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What a lovely thought. Birds are special.
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How wonderful to read of the coming of Spring …. hopeful, beautiful poetry …. cheers.
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Thank you for reading and may Spring come to you soon too.
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a great expose of nature and absolutely love your shots! well done
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Thanks, Kate. The photos are from past Februaries!
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wow you are living in a mild climate too then 🙂
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A warm welcome Georgina! It’s great to see that you have found both the dVerse Poets pub and earthweal. I think you are the first poet from Spain. Thank you for introducing me to your mountains and your kind of February, which is so different to ours in the UK:
‘No snowdrops here brave bitter blasts
Wild hoops of rarest daffodils defy a different death’.
What a contrast with your ‘peacock butterfly with wounded wing’, the ‘florets of pink’, the rotting fruit and spring’s ‘hot embrace’. I’m green with envy as we expect more snow this weekend. However, your colourful photographs have brightened up my morning.
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Thanks, Kim but even though the sun is higher I still think the turn or rise of the sap is in February as the days get longer. But the weather changes and sometimes February is very grey and wet! Hope all is well for you in Norfolk and am very glad to find nature prompts with Earthweal.
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The particulars of biodiversity are on abundant display as the whole turns toward spring. Thanks so for bringing this to earthweal. What we hope for is a global witness, with voices from so many places — adding yours here is a gentle yet lavish soak in Spanish countryside — so Wonderfull to have you here. – Brendan
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Thank you Brendan, good to find you and I will look forward to more. One of the aims of my blog is to witness the wild world around this part of Spain. I am inspired to continue and join in with Earthweal.
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This is such a beautiful poem, so full of delicate images of nature carefully and skilfully woven. I lived in Southern Spain for 18 months but never visited this area. Now I wish I had!
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Thank you Ingrid, yes it is less well known than the Sierra Nevada, Granada and Alpujarras but is not far from Portugal the place my husband loves. Where were you?
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Fuengirola, but we did visit Sierra Nevada
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By the sea, lovely.
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How wonderful to have a poet from Spain join the conversation at earthweal. I loved reading your lines about the season where you are. Spain is such a beautiful country. I have a poet friend who lives in the clouds in Cantabria!!!!
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Thanks, Sherry, I am so happy to find this conversation as I was looking for ways to inspire me to continue. Navasola is in the south west in Andalucia in the mountain range of the Sierra Aracena. I would love to visit Cantabria where there are higher mountains and much more wild with some bears and wolves. (Iberian wolf)
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It’s so good to see that spirit of new life in different places and climates. I’m so glad you’ve found earthweal and dVerse. I love your detailing of the natural world here.
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Thanks, Sarah, it will help keep me blogging. I found Dverse about 5 years ago but only kept going if the prompts were nature focused. I try to keep nature at the heart of my blog.
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Beautiful and heartfelt thoughts expressed through your poetry and pictures. Your message is clear. Wonderful.
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It’s a lovely poem, it captures that first hope of spring when we know spring will come but it still often seems so far away.
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Thanks, yes, here in the U.K. it does seem a long way off still but there are snowdrops!
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What a great place to be in… though I do love my winter, spring is bliss … to me.
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Thanks, the southern sun does bring spring early and we did have a little snow for the first time in January.
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Thanks for your poem and introducing me to Imbolc!
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Lovely photographs and a beautiful message.
FBC
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Gracias, Francisco.
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Un placer.
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I love the picture you have painted of your little teeming slice of earthlife. I like butterflies almost as much as birds. (K)
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Thanks, life is so varied in different places but for me butterflies are easier to photograph than the birds in our woods. I will follow your inspiring drawings and try and paint them.
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Good idea!
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Georgina, I loved how you capture all of nature in your poem, the beauty, the real, raw at times, always mesmerising. What a great festival -and a terrific word and not one I’ll forget – Imbolc!
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Thanks, Annika, it is an amazing word and fits this time of year as we rise out of winter, slowly!
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Beautiful words and images. We all need healing.
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Thank you Annette, and hope all well for you.
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I’m late coming to your poem – short but perfectly formed – and the links you mention, which I shall certainly follow up – thanks
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Good to hear from you, I may have found a new muse in Earthweal! Celebrating each month with a poem may be a way forward as I realise now I have 7 years of photos for each month too!
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