Panther Run

Mary Petiet

The dreamscape panther runs, lunging agile, undeniable
tearing at my eyes, my throat, my heart
a young man moves to spear her, but I gesture him away

I am merging with the panther as she rips apart my senses
I am dying to the old as I am born into the new
I am shifting, shaping, changing
I am one thing then the next

Now I panther-run the dreamscape along the moon-lit path,
see through new eyes, speak with new breath,
return from the dreamscape with a heart-song
full of waking poetry.


Mary Petiet is a writer, poet, and publisher. Her work emphasizes our connection to each other and the natural world with a focus on positive empowerment. She met the Sisterhood of Avalon at a pre-COVID Ninefold Conference. A contributor to many publications, including Girl God Books, Mary is the author Owl Magic and Moon Tide (Sea Crow Press) and the founder of Massachusetts-based independent publishing company Sea Crow Press. Visit her website or follow her on Facebook.

Similar Posts

  • The Awen

    By Joanna van der Hoeven The awen symbol is based on an original design by the 18th-19th century Druid revivalist, Iolo Morganwg. It consists of three lines falling to the right, centre and left. Modern Druidry incorporates the original source point of three dots, which can either be seen as points of light or drops from…

  • Meditation Poem

    Meditation in Light and Dark by Kathryn Gordon Prisms glow in fire and squirrels knot themselves on bark. Emerging slowly, branches etch a forest into snow — In this way, all living things grow more vivid in unfertile soil. About the Author: Kathryn has written poetry for many years because it helps her to identify…

  • Gwydion Makes Leu a Wife

     By Charlotte Hussey At dawn I drop armfuls of leafy plants, buds on slender stalks, frail, scented blossoms, hundreds upon hundreds— into a vat of river water.   I stir from edge to center, chaos to order, watch sunlight reflect off the pin-wheeling liquids, ridged with tiny waves, like crimped, opening petals.   Slowly the…

  • Acorn-poetry

    Acorn by Rhosyn Gwyn I once lived amidst the clouds in lofty limbs that held me close. I touched the sky without waxen wings. But I, too, have plummeted fallen and disgraced. The honorable tower above me casting down their dead and dying. And here I lie among the reeking wreckage of decay searching for…

  • The Veil

    Sarah Leverett The Cailleach greets me at the heart of Tír na nÓg where Ancestor Oak’s roots span wide and run deep into the fertile earth. She offers me a vial, an elixir to lift the veil, a path through the liminal, a potion to wipe away the illusions of this world. I’m tempted to…