The Magic Box & Me

I finished this last week but I had to keep it under wraps until today.

It's my entry for the latest swap/project at the Cubby Hole. You can find out more of the background here, but in a nutshell, the challenge is to create your own version of the poem and then place it in your magic box.

The box began life as a cheap wooden trinket box with a 99p sticker on it. To prepare it for the words it's been coated in acrylics, Stuart Gill 'Alchemy' paints, UTEE and a couple of layers of rainbow embossing. I think it's now about 1/4" bigger than when it started!

In a way it's a change from my usual work. Some of my pieces are done just to match a theme for a swap or a challenge; but the others reflect part of me - the quirky side, the slightly silly stuff, and the pieces which draw on my beliefs, but this is probably the first piece which is ME.

The words were written whilst I was away camping over the Solstice period. I'd woken early to watch the dawn and then spent the rest of the day in peace and quiet, listening to the sounds of nature and enjoying the solitude. At some point I picked up pen & paper and started writing. There was no thought to it - it just flowed, and apart from rearranging a couple of the lines this is how it came out.

So there you have it, a little piece of ME - treat it with care :)

The Magic Box
I will put in the box
A walk in the silence of a moonlit foggy night
The gentle hiss of falling snow in a silent forest
A hawk's plaintive cry above a deserted moor

I will put in the box
The intensity of a love so strong it hurts
The gay abandon of a barefoot dance in the rain
A smile on a gentle face that brightens even the darkest day

I will put in the box
Wraith-like faces in firelight's warm glow
The enchantment of music under a starlit sky
The first bright ray of a Beltaine sunrise

I will put in the box
A stream's twinkling laugh as it plays among the rocks
The unconditional love in a dog's brown eyes
The rhythmic patter of rain on canvas

My box is made from the new life of autumn and the lazy days of winter,
The first fallen leaves of spring and the finest summer snowflakes,
All held together with spider tears and gossamer butterfly wings

I shall travel in my box along the Web of Wyrd,
Following each and every strand, through the dark and the light,
Until I dance with The Lady under the stars