Saturday book feature — Seren of the Wildwood — Marly Youmans

Excerpt from Seren of the Wildwood

1.
Never speak your passions by the wildwood—
The heedfulness that might have saved their lives
From harm was torn in two, and afterward
They were dismayed, bewildered by surprise.
The father looked as handsome as a dream
Of elvishness, a man whose element
Seemed fire, his aura crackling energy,
His potent green-eyed glance a stream of sparks;
The mother softer, secretive, blue-eyed,
Her element not fire but water: force
That mines the roots of mountains, flies to clouds…
Was he too proud a flame, too rich in youth?
Did she demand too much in quietness?
Or did their beauty lure the wildwood’s stare?
Of course, he was the one to speak the words,
Sudden, wrathful, turning on the children,
Two little boys who leaped in reckless joy
And never thought of punishment and doom.
“I wish I had a daughter, not you boys
Who shut your ears and are no help to me!”
The edge of things is always dangerous,
. . . . . . . . . . .And trees
. . . . . . .May shelter eyes and ears
. . . . . . .That do not care to please—
. . . . . . .The shade where something hears,
. . . . . . .The dark where something sees.

by Marly Youmans, from Seren of the Wildwood (Wiseblood Books, 2023)

Cover art by Clive Hicks-Jenkins

Hardcover link: https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p129/Seren_of_the_Wildwood%2C_by_Marly_Youmans_%28Hardcover%29.html

Paperback link: https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p128/Seren-of-the-Wildwood-by-Youmans.html