Longing


It fills me to the brim
Spills over
Leaks everywhere
A flood,
Once begun
Now rages
Beyond control,
Rising,
Soaking me
To the bone,
The very marrow
LONGING……..
Better you than closed doors and
Tidy feelings
Better you, you, you…..

MargaretArlen ©️
Spring 2014

Beloved

I look into his face
So well loved I can trace every line
Every scar
And know the time that caused it
Know every tiny detail
The familiarity
A daily blessing
For despite the dread-full past
He still lives
And knowing what I know of him
The more beloved he is
Age and time ….our life
A strange unexpected dream
To be here now….
To be his wife

He sees me smiling
Knows my thinking
Remembering another Wedding Day
I was reluctant then to say
The words that bound me to him
He pauses, looks down
Collecting his emotions
Then turns, faces me
With a look of such intensity
Remembering his promises
He’s kept them
Every one

I look into his face
And see the sun.

For Claire and Jamie
MargaretArlen ©️
Photo courtesy of STARZ

Never My Love

I wonder if I will ever be done with Season 5…..

SO MANY LAYERS TO THIS POWERFUL FINALE….
I see more, feel more, hurt more with each viewing, but there is beauty within the terrible….and terrible beauty.

NEVER MY LOVE….Plays on endless repeat, as I watch again and again.

So many evocative, traumatic, fierce, passionate, murderous, human, loving moments….the deep connection of family, whoever they may be.

“There’s been an attack on the ridge”, Jamie says.
“They’ve taken Claire. We’re gonna get her back.”

He’s cold and methodical, preparing himself for war. Dressed in Tartan, he leaves the homestead as clouds of black birds fly from their night roosts, filling the skies with their cries. Tears leak,and chills creep up and down my spine as he runs to the highest point on the ridge, to light the fiery cross.
The young men and the old gather….to go to war for him, for their Healer, Mistress Claire.

All is cruel brutality, as she and we escape to a refuge far away, where Jamie wraps her in his Tartan Plaid, says those very familiar words….
“Y’re shakin so hard it’s making my teeth rattle.”
Never My Love a soothing respite in the background.

His shocked face, seeing her….bound, gagged, brutally beaten.
But he knows….he of all people knows how this feels…..he can’t break down, instead he cuts her ties, holds her by the shoulders, tells her
“You are whole…..you are alive.”
Then with the greatest care, he wraps her gently in his plaid, lifts her up, carries her….and those powerful words echo in my mind…..

“A Bloodsoaked Adam, A Battered Eve.” DG

I cannot let go of this season, this episode…..So loving in its final moments,
So deeply steeped in the strength of Family…..Who would not wish for the Warriors of Old. For their Strength and Courage in Battle.
For their Honour, their Loyalty.

I long, I yearn, I grieve for Men like these.

MA©️

Train Travel

The rocking forward motion
Dull metallic clinking
Soothing rythmic rolling
Scenes flashing by of Spring green pastures
Sheep flocks grazing
Fence posts leaning
Windmills whirring
Milk cows running
Windbreaks bracing
Silvery creeks rippling

Rocking, clanging, rythmic rolling
Soothing….
Sleeping
zzzzzzzzzzz

MA©️
Spring 2012

Cigar and Whisky Magazine

He sat there, an expression of fierce intensity on his beautiful face….
Waiting, waiting for an answer, as cigar smoke filled the air.
Surrounded by the scent of finest Whisky and Leather….he waited,
YES,” I said…..Whatever the question, the answer is “YES.”

MA©️

Never Give Up

Rejected 7 times auditioning for Game of Thrones, he was meant for better things…..but his ability to accept rejection over and over again, says so much about this man, SAM.

Courage, stubbornness, an innate faith in his own ability, and a solid background of hard work instilled in him by his creative Mother.
You’re an inspiration Mr Heughan.

🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡

MA©️

Wedding Night

Surrendering himself to his new bride’s touch
He stands, his entire body yearning
Almost melting into her
But giving in, allowing
As she slowly explores
His strong, beautiful young body…..

And she…..glides slender fingers
Across his skin, so slowly
Delaying, extending her pleasure
And his….
Until she turns, faces him
Looks down, then up into his face
His slanted dark blue eyes
Her wanting matching his
Sees him quivering with desire

She loosens the ties of her shift
And he moves quickly
Wraps strong arms around and lifts
Carries her willing
To their marriage bed
Enters her then, pleasures her
Until their voices cry out together
On that night when first they wed.

MargaretArlen ©️

Seasick

I wake to the salty tang of it
Dress quickly
Breakfast can wait
Already the pavement burns under
My summer hardened feet
It’s going to be hot
Dropping my towell on the warm sand
I run towards the sparkling waves
Everything shimmers
Silvery/Blue /Green
In the morning sunlight
Running in, diving, gasping
With the shock of cold
The taste of salt
The slap of wavelets
Against my skin……

Then I wake !!!
It was all a dream……

MargaretArlen ©️ Spring 2015

A Cuckoo in the Nest

The little Thrush worked tirelessly…..a Falcon had killed her mate and so she left the nest making swift forays to feed herself, never going too far away….. returning to her three speckled eggs. Then one day as she flew in and perched on the rim, the nest had changed…..one very large egg had been placed right in the centre.
Her mothering instincts accepted the new egg, and she adjusted her body to fit the new shape….the largest egg a protruding lump, beneath her.
Days turned to weeks….her life was difficult with no mate to feed her, but her only conscious thought was the protection of her eggs…..all of them.
They cheeped to her as she sat, her soft belly feathers a constant protective warmth around them….she spoke back, bending her neck, turning the eggs with her delicate beak, mothering.

One by one they hatched, three perfect replicas of herself and her mate, and one huge exception. Now finding food on her own took her all day.
The largest chick was insatiable, greedily pushing in, taking from the others.
The little mother was barely eating herself, her body just soft brown feathers and fragile bones. Each return to the nest, there was one less Thrush baby, but driven by instinct she kept feeding the remaining chicks….feeding the interloper.

The days passed, Spring turned to Summer….exhausted from the constant search for food, she landed, crop filled to feed her nestlings as dusk descended on the day.
One chick remained, the Cuckoo …..beak opened, its voracious appetite demanding, as she disgorged her feed into its gaping beak.

The Cuckoo outgrew the mother, pushing her aside in the nest with vicious little pecks, yet still she flew back and forth, feeding it.
It grew flight feathers, sat on the rim of the nest flapping its wings, hopping back and forth with tiny practise flights, constantly pecking the small mother, as it grew bigger, stronger.

And then one sunny summers day, it flew….bold and strong, straight out through the protective cover of branches into the flight path of the same Falcon, who seized it with strong talons and carried it away to feed its hungry nestlings.

The little thrush sat quietly on the rim of the nest, preening her feathers.
Nearby, she heard the soft siren call of a male. He flew back and forth, courting her and in the fullness of time, she left the nest behind….flew with him to a secret glade far, far away, to begin again.

MargaretArlen ©️
Spring 2020

The Wedding

He stood before me
At the old church door
A vision of such splendour
I forgot every promise I’d made before
This moment

Strength, beauty, kindness, grace
All made clear
On his beautiful face
In this moment….I forgot my fear
My misgivings
The husband I’d left only weeks before
I forgot my past life
Walked up to the door
And as he took my arm
As he led me inside
All I wanted in this moment
Was to be his bride

The cuts were deep
The blood flowed free
The ties that bound us
Soaked and bloody
I looked up into his clear blue eyes
Down at the linen binding ties
And cared not for what may come
Or what was left behind
In this moment
I am his
He is mine

In this moment
Before the Altar
Of the new Gods and the Auld
I surrendered the past
Knew In my soul I was bound to him
This would be my last
My one, my only love
My kin

In this moment
In this Sacred place
In the eyes looking back at me
In his beautiful face

Mine, His
There is only this
Unexpected
Unwanted
Unwilling
Back then
Yet, here, opening up to him
There is only this
This Holy tie that binds
As the Priest intones
You my kiss your bride
In this moment

I give myself to you now
As bloods drips from the ties
That bind our vow
He is my husband
I his wife
Bound body and soul
Bound for life

Nothing exists
Between us now
But this
This
Endless
Moment

This first kiss.

MA©️