Star harvesting

Brigit’s holiday was chiefly marked by the kindling of sacred fires, since she symbolized the fire of birth and healing, the fire of the forge, and the fire of poetic inspiration.
~Mike Nichols

Lane Lanterns by :mrMark:

A poem by Emily Hancock of St Brigid Press today in honor of St Brigid's Day. Emily says, "A huge figure in ancient Celtic (as a goddess) and Christian (as a saint) histories, Brigid is an emblem and energy for the reverence of Nature, of healing and kindness to all (especially the poor and the animals), and of the equality of women." She is also a patron saint of poets!

St Brigid's Eve

mid-winter's sharpened sickle, the moon
cuts cleanly through all absence,
harvests stars
with one slow sweep of heaven
while we sleep, dreams rising
and falling away like chaff

come morning, for a moment
the fields will gleam
with what darkness empties -- new stars
alight upon every stilled blade

© Emily Hancock, from The Open Gate: New & Selected Poems (St Brigid Press, 2017)

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Thank you, Emily, for allowing me to share your poem here.
Laura Shovan has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Laura!