Thursday, March 15, 2018

Joy V. Sheridan writes

A Sigh of Runnymede

Runnymede rivulets stream forth 

Through a web of the hand 
Fingers stretched apart, 
A lock for the vision

So sweet a river was anything ever 

So complete at its competition 
For the prize and crown 
Of a truly peaceful lea 
This river to garden 
Is an enchantment to me 

For you can see the heron there 

Who waits for a fishy dish 
To peep forth from his lair.

And see you now 

The reeds as they arise – 
Vegetation grown at ease 
With the flash  
Of kingfisher blue, 
And a triumph in Aqueous leaves renew.

Now a cormorant too will land 

Upon this enchanted span

Such to Runnymede 

Clear leaps the day, 
And from the dust 
A misty aroma is known

And on the golden throne 

Somewhere eternal sits 
Neptune who, at ease 
Lets slip the name of his realm – 
This maritime god 
Knows a fluidic stretch

But within the web 

Of one’s fingers 
Does stretch into 
A twilight of peace 
This river to its reach 
Meets for a completion 
Of bliss. 
Oh! What can challenge this? 



River Thames at Runnymeade -- Melanie Frobisher

2 comments:

  1. Runnymede is a water-meadow beside the Thames river, some 20 miles (32 km) west of central London. Its historical significance has been heavily influenced by its proximity to the Roman Road's river crossing at nearby Staines-upon-Thames. Its name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon "runieg" (regular meeting) and "mede" (meadow), since the Witan (Witenagemot), the royal council from the 7th to 11th centuries, was held there at times during the reign of Ælfrēd the Great in the 9th century, and in 1215 king Johan of England sealed the Magna Carta at "Ronimed. inter Windlesoram et Stanes" (between Windsor and Staines), so the site has strong connections with the development of constitutional government.

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  2. Neptune (the English form of Neptunas, the Roman god of the sea, and of horses due to his creation of the chariot with Minerva the virgin goddess of wisdom, music, poetry, medicine, commerce, weaving, and the crafts.) began as a deity of springs, lakes, and rivers before being elevated to the lord over all waters. He married Salachia, the goddess of springs, who ruled over highly mineralized waters. Neptune's own name may have derived from Nethunus, the adjectival form of Nepete (modern Nepi), an Etruscan town near Viterbo, Italia, famous for millennia for the quality of the water of its springs, scattered in meadows (still bottled under the Acqua di Nepi brand). "Nepet" is a hydronymic toponym of pre-Indoeuropean origin meaning "damp wide valley, plain." The Romans conquered the town in 386 BCE. He may have been a cognate of the Romano-British god Nodens and/or the Celtic god Nuadu associated with healing, the sea, hunting and dogs, or Nechtan (who may have been Nuadu himself or his son).


    In the 8th century AD it was the seat of a duchy for a short while.[2] During the late 9th to early 10th century, it was, along with much of central Italy, threatened by the Saracens.[3]
    before becoming also a god of the sea, as is testified by the numerous findings of inscriptions mentioning him in the proximity of such locations. Servius the grammarian also explicitly states Neptune is in charge of all the rivers, springs and waters. He also is the lord of horses because he worked with Minerva to make the chariot.[19]

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