Once I Saw The Goddess
  
  
  Once I saw the Goddess
  in a timber-shrouded archway.
  Beneath the oak and birch and apple
  I saw Her dance through light and shadow.
  
  In Her aspect of the Maiden
  She sowed the Springtime's promise.
  Put the red in passion-roses.
  She turned my young man's fancy.
  
  Then full of Summer came the Mother
  great with new life's fulfilled promise.
  She crafted bright red apples,
  and filled them full with sweetness.
  
  'Neath Autumn's rainbow patchwork
  came the wizened, bright-eyed Crone,
  and She handed me an apple
  that had fallen in it's ripeness.
  
  In twain I split the apple
  and found the secret gift inside,
  between the five seeds woven,
  like a new-discovered Mystery.
  
  And as the snows of Winter
  cast their pale white shroud upon me
  I stood beneath bare branches,
  and I felt no fear within me.
  
  For within my heart there danced
  a smiling green-clad Maiden
  In Her hands were seeds of apples
  holding Springtime's rebirth promise.