In conclave gathered before a great fire,
I stood and sang my victorious tale.
Sang I rhymes accompanied by the lyre
and danced across all the forested vale.
Others stood, roared, stomped, and shouted my lines
until the ground itself roared out the song
and the drops of rain fell in wild designs
and the living world roared my tale full strong.
And the wild shadows cast by those that danced
resembled not the men before the fire
but were of beasts and figures that we chanced
to glimpse in myth and song and dream most dire.
Giants marched, whirled and flew around the flames
and beasts, half-man, half-thing with wings and claws
unknown to us, were the things without names
that grew apace and at last gave us pause
The music died and the fires all burned down
and men stood abashed at revelation
of a nature other and newly found
in the wild, mad, dance of celebration.