Hymnal: The Grove of Poplars

As promised, a poem for Hekate:


Deep in the forest where few dare to tread
There stands a grove of poplars
Near a bubbling stream
There stands a Maiden
She waits there for me.

Her torches shimmer and shine in the night
Against the darkness of the trees.
A growling descends from the hills near and far
As I walk towards the crossroads
She waits there for me.

Deep in the forest where few dare to tread
There stands a grove of poplars
And the path is a crossroads
Whereon stands the Maiden
She waits there for me.

She knows all my secrets that I could not speak,
With her torches, the truth she reveals
The mysteries she guards for those who would seek
These span the heavens, the earth and the sea.

Deep in the forest where few dare to tread
There stands a grove of poplars,
and the moon shines brightly down
Where stands the Maiden
She waits there for me.

I have washed and dressed
I have carried forth the offering
to stand at the crossroads where she gave me the key
There in the darkness with torches so bright
A maiden waits there for me.

Deep in the forest where few dare to tread
There stands a grove of poplars.
Grown by Hekate's hand.
------
According to Walter Burkert, Black Poplars grown in the Underworld, and the Poplar and Fig were both understood to be signs of a nearby entrance to the Chthonic Realms.
This came to me while I was singing to my plants and folding laundry the other day as I was just starting to come under the weather. It will probably get sorted and tweaked for a while longer, and I need to sit down with my lap harp and work on the music that it will be set with to be played. Here's hoping I can remember how to do music notation! :)