“An Irish Halloween Blessing”: On Terence Winch’s Birthday

 

On Terence Winch's Birthday

 

Isn't it beautiful? Johann Zoffany's painting

of a production of Ben Jonson's The Alchemist, 1770,

and Terence sent me the image to accompany

the note he writes each Sunday to introduce

his pick of the week to a select circle of smart

and sophisticated readers, a different note 

each Sunday with a different image, each

as compelling as this one, so I start with it

in anticipation of November 1st, his birthday,

(and that of Glen Terence Hartley, agent of Astrophil and Stella).

 

Anticipation can blend celebration and collaboration

so I ask the man himself for ideas such as Samhain,

which, he explains, is pronounced "sow [rhymes with "now"]

 

OK, Terence. Take it away.  — DL

 

What is Samhain?
The ancient Celts believed the year was divided into two parts, the lighter half in the summer and the darker half in the winter. Samhain was the division between these halves – the end of the Harvest, and the time when the veil between our world of the living and the world of the dead was at its thinnest.

Oíche Shamhna (October 31) is Halloween and Lá na Marbh (November 1) is the Day of the Dead, or All Saints Day when those who have passed away are remembered.

An Irish Halloween Blessing

At All Hallow's Tide, may God keep you safe
From goblin and pooka and black-hearted stranger,
From harm of the water and hurt of the fire,
From thorns of the bramble, from all other danger,
From Will O' The Wisp haunting the mire;
From stumbles and tumbles and tricksters to vex you,
May God in His mercy, this week protect you.

 

For Annie Finch's 1997 poem "Samhain," which she defines as "the Celtic Halloween," click here:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53066/samhain