Song, Chant, Poetry, Stories and Satire for the Pagan Community

This entry made: 03/13/2000

Title: Greenmantle
Lyrics by: Leigh Ann Hussey (leighann@elfhill.com)
Tune: original
Date: 1988
Source:
Recorded on: "Homebrew," Leigh Ann Hussey, 1988.
Subject: God

Stroke of midnight, standing at the crossroads,
Light of moon whitens surfaces like bone;
Bitter wind blows, shredding ragged clouds.
In the darkness are waiting worlds unknown.
You who stand where barriers are thin,
By your eyes you will be undone;
Are those branches, twisting in the moonlight,
Or the antlers of the Hornèd One?

	Greenmantle!  Who are you?  What is your mystery?
	Greenmantle!  I call you!  Take shape and come to me!

[spoken]: 	I am the storm that scours the land;
		I am the guide of hidden ways;
		I am the holly and the oak;
		I am the hunter and the prey;
		I am the lord of stag and bear;
		I am the slayer and the slain;
		I am the blade of sacrifice;
		I am the blood that heals all pain.

In the dappled twilight of the oakwoods,
All around there's the working of life's fire.
Something's calling, something is arousing,
Fanning to a blaze the sweet desire.
You who stand here, suddenly shaken,
By your ears you will be undone;
Are those breezes whistling through the laurels,
Or the piping of the Hornèd One?

	Greenmantle!  I call you!  I'll taste your ecstasy!
	Greenmantle!  We'll dance here if you will come to me!

[spoken]:	I am the word that made the worlds;
		I am the song in every throat;
		I am the ivy and the grape;
		I am the lord of ram and goat;
		I am the heat in limb and loin;
		I am the rapture and the fright;
		I am the first lord of the dance;
		I am the flame upon the height.

In the circle raised in eldest time,
Made by unknown hands in unknown ways,
In the grove where ancient trees are hallowed,
Is a gateway to another place.
You who stand where serpent paths are crossing,
By your compass you will be undon;
For this site, unmarked on any map,
Is a precinct of the Hornèd One!

	Greenmantle...

[spoken]:	I am the sower and the seed;
		I am the stone beside the track
		I am the bearded heads of grain;
		I am the leaf and branch and bark;
		I am the lord of horse and boar;
		I am the blackthorn on the mound;
		I am the pulse of woodland's heart;
		I am the home and holy ground.

	Greenmantle!  I call you!  Antlered in majesty!
	Greenmantle!  We'll feast here if you will come to me!

He is as old as the oldest gnosis;
He is change and survives what change befalls;
He is free and cannot be fettered,
For is his name is his dwelling-place is "All".
You who'd stand and meet the eyes of secrets,
By the bonfire of your heart 'tis done;
Feed it well with willing and with loving,
And prepare to meet the Hornèd One!

	Greenmantle...

[spoken]:	I am the salmon in the pool;
		I am the winner of the mead;
		I am the hazel and the ash;
		I am the secret in the reed;
		I am the speaker of the rune;
		I am the coracle on sea;
		I am the swallowed and reborn;
		I am the rider of the Tree.

	Greenmantle!  I call you!  By blood and stone and tree!
	Greenmantle!  I call you!  Take shape and come to me!
	Greenmantle!  I call you!  By flame and storm and sea!
	Greenmantle!  I call you!  Take shape and come to me!