The Open Door

Heilyn opens the door to end the sojourn on Gwales; The Birds of Rhiannon fly.
Illustration by Margaret Jones
 

~*~

When the door is opened,

when Rhiannon’s birds still their song

and the head of Brân is silent,

who will speak to us as we pass

the door that can never again be closed

in our Time?

“Shame on my beard” said Heilyn

“If I do not open it” - 

The door that Manawydan counselled

Should not be opened , for he knew

The pain that would fall upon him,

The grief of many deaths

And his world changed beyond enduring.

For now a blackbird sings in a garden enclosed,

fills the bare boughs of a tree with strident beauty.

It is enough. Buds will break. The tree will bear green leaves.

Other doors will open.