Spell for Raine
by Marly Youmans
[Photo: "Prayer" © Stu Jenks, used by permission]

Let the spiral stairs of mind
   Go empty;

Let the labyrinth unwind,
   Eroding;

Let the globe be lost — its rind
   Unpeeling.

Let her curse beside the lea
   Be broken;

Let her eye disperse its sea
   Airily;

Let the wands, the leaves, the tree
   Forget her.

Let her spells and songs remain,
   Enduring

Just so long as mortal pain,
   Unending--

Let her grief, her wrack, her stain
   Find solace.

Let her know the starry Word,
   That burning

In the blood, that voice not heard,
   Divining

Vision of the world that stirred
   Her dreaming.

Kathleen Raine, 1908 — 2003

Marly Youmans is the author of seven books: Valorson, a limited edition novella forthcoming in 2008; three novels, her most recent work The Wolf Pit, along with Catherwood, and Little Jordan: A Novel; a collection of poetry, Claire; and two very Southern fantasies, Ingledove set in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and The Curse of the Raven Mocker. She has won The Michael Shaara Award for The Wolf Pit, and two Hoepfner awards for short fiction. A native of the Carolinas, she lives in Cooperstown, New York. For more about her work, please visit her website and blog.