a mortality
of wrens
is upon us
because the boys
are in the town
saying they are
the men now
and a new generation
carols
with broken voices
the diminished year
and the winter-king
stoned and wrung
power shrinks
to a chirping head
once small men
blaming their king
arranged for him
a savage death
slicing
his nipples off
and running hawsers
through his arms
before they slew
and dumped
the 6‘6 ” giant
in a bog
now only
spread arms
and the torso
are left
a man’s hand
still furled
in sleep
his fingers
holding back
the wren-sized shadow
live
in the palm
Oxford
18 January 2018
Old Croghan Man is a bog burial discovered at Croghan Hill near Daingean in County Offaly, Ireland. He was killed sometime between 362 -175 BCE. He was only in his early twenties.
Kingship was a demanding institution in ancient Ireland. Kings were sacrificed in response to bad harvests and other disasters.
On St Stephen’s Day, the 26th December, “wren boys” still trick or treat for a wren in Ireland and in North Wales. They no longer use a living wren.