May Day is many things to many people.
As kids we drew pictures of May Poles
in school with people dancing around.
Newspapers showed black and white photos
parades of tanks and missiles in Red Square,
a patriotic display of hammers and sickles.
Then spring became a time for antiwar protest,
and May Day became an alarm again,
a call not to arms but to stop the war machine.
Was it Nixon who renamed it 'Law Day'
for congressmen to talk about order
and decry the dangers of disagreeing?
Ancient Celtic tradition had its Beltane
fertility ritual with fires and dancing
around a phallic pole, ribbons spreading
like petals around it. Warm weather returns,
seeds are sown, birds and bees make babies,
new growth begins and crops will be harvested.
My nontraditional May Day consisted
of working out in the yard, paying bills,
downloading and managing files,
riding a bike to the bank and the library,
reading the business section of the paper,
and listening to rain on the roof.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment