In County Roscommon
in a vaulted cavern.
is the Cave of the Cats,
where the three-headed cat lived.
A racial memory 3,00 years old
begins at the end of the Bronze Age
where base dirt was transformed
into alchemical iron
and weapons took in a new edge
shifting the balance of power.
The monster roused from sleep
by the cry of the red yew psalter
began to stalk warriors returning
and weapons took in a new edge
shifting the balance of power.
The monster roused from sleep
by the cry of the red yew psalter
began to stalk warriors returning
home on the long boreens.
For was that not the tree of death?
What monster stirs in these deserts
where base oil is transformed into greed?
9/19/2002- rev.06
For was that not the tree of death?
What monster stirs in these deserts
where base oil is transformed into greed?
9/19/2002- rev.06
UAIGH na g CAT—CAVE OF THE CATS
There are chests of gold within the burial mounds
but mind the cats that guard them.
—Old Irish Proverb
For ethno-musician, Simon O'Dwyer
In County Roscommom, in a vaulted cavern,
is Owenygat, the lair of the Cave of the Cats,
where they say the three-headed saber cat
guarded the gates of hell.
Was it a fragment of a racial memory,
Was it a fragment of a racial memory,
born at the eve of the Bronze Age
at a time when the Goibniu
at a time when the Goibniu
transformed base dirt into alchemical iron
and weapons took on a new edge
and weapons took on a new edge
thus shifting the balance of power?
At Rath Croghan, the epicenter
At Rath Croghan, the epicenter
where Ireland’s Inanna, the Iron Age warrior,
Queen Medbh of Connaght,
the white mare whose honeyed thighs drowned
and crowned sovereignty onto Kings
by a ritual of intoxication,
the meade-mad Queen Medbh
whose lust launched the famed cattle raid,
whose lust launched the famed cattle raid,
“Táin Bó Cuailnge”, a war
that brought an empire to its knees,
is an old myth.
But at the fissure of Owenygat,
But at the fissure of Owenygat,
the locals still recount how the goddess Medbh
opened wider still to let the demons into her
and she kept the gateway to the Otherworld
and she kept the gateway to the Otherworld
clenched tight, in order to save humanity
from the tyrranny of ravenous beasts.
Inscribed in Ogham above the lintel
Inscribed in Ogham above the lintel
"Hellmouth Door of Ireland,"
it says Medbh’s son and daughter,
Fróech and Finnabhair, sacred twins
it says Medbh’s son and daughter,
Fróech and Finnabhair, sacred twins
were born at the limnal entrance to the Cave
where she herself was born and buried.
Some say Medbh shape-shifted
Some say Medbh shape-shifted
into the The Mórrígan, the goddess of war.
Others say that the Mórrígan was
Others say that the Mórrígan was
the blood-red Crogderg, her mother-sister.
They say, whenever a crow lands,
the threefold Mórrígu, are stirring.
They say they take the spirits home
They say they take the spirits home
"in the belly of a black-winged bird"
because who reopened the gates of hell?
The Mórrígan’s errant red calf
because who reopened the gates of hell?
The Mórrígan’s errant red calf
is bellowing in the plain of Cruachan.
You know what that leads to.
You know what that leads to.
The Daghda’s cauldron is churning
and rebirthing military fodder.
There have been sightings of crows
There have been sightings of crows
and talk of the flaming red birds
that wither everything their beaks touch.
The monster roused from sleep
by the hue and cry of the red yew psalters
began to stalk lone warriors
began to stalk lone warriors
returning home on the boreens
for was that not the yew,
for was that not the yew,
the arrow and the tree of death?
What monster hunts by darkness
What monster hunts by darkness
on the plains of the Fertile Crescent
What gates to the Otherworld opened,
What gates to the Otherworld opened,
the crows circling the battlefield
where base oil is sucked up
where base oil is sucked up
and transformed into greed?
9/19/2002
9/19/2002
Rev: 3/17 2006 (the Iraqi war); and 2/2/2008 (Imbolc). I wish I had kept a copy of the original poem.
