Kevin McManus is an award-winning poet-writer from Carrigallen in County Leitrim. He has published six novels and a poetry collection entitled “Spirits in the Forest”.

He has a new poetry collection coming soon and also a short story collection called “The Stillness of Lakes” which will be available in early December.

Samhain

Riding the white mare on the wild hunt
on all hallows’ eve.
Chased by the cat and the black raven.
with the moon in the sky.
At the thinning of the veil,
the end of the old year has arrived,
Nature is in decay,
the winter fires are lit
as a cold wave drifts across the barren land.
The sun is in the realm of the underworld,
chaos abounds in the darkness.
The hands of the clock are frozen
and time is entangled in the spiritual demesne.
The fairy host and the faithful departed
gather as the portals are opened.
The shivering ghosts float from the wet borderlands
and the naked and frozen forests of hazel and hemlock.
to the warmth of the hearth
And the offerings for the souls of the dead.