Visions of Dionysus

Strange dreams heralded Your coming

Intense, vivid, real

Ivy and mead, yes, but more:

Drums in the distance, heavy and echoing

Spears and swords gleamed

Fangs shone

Something deeper and darker

Slather and blood dripped

Grinning

You stir them up

Drinking

Dancing

Howling

At first I cannot follow your footsteps

I cannot follow your rhythm

I cannot dance with you

I am too afraid

You stir them up with that bestial grin

That snapping of teeth and pawing the earth

That thudding of Your thyrsus

You stir them up with that roar

That shaking of Your body

That unbridled ferocity

You stir them up

You stir them up

You stir them up

How can I do other than follow my soul

As it leads me to dance

As it leads me to release

As it leads me to rage

Your wolfish grin invites

The forest unfolding

Come and be who you are

Io! Io! Io!

O Enualios!

O Holy Wild One!

O Dionysus!

Tasting Dionysus

I taste you in my wine press

Your body splits as the vice presses

Your flesh flows as it crushes

Your blood falls into my thirsty barrel

Each grape its own, each grape a taste of You

Twice-Born

The God caught Himself in the mirror and stood in awe

Absorbed, never thinking

That behind Him stalked His killers

 

Torn limb from limb

Body boiled, limbs roasted

 

The wine stained eyes fell from His mirror

Rolled up to His Father, whose wrath blazed

The furious bolt crashed

 

Dead fell the feasters

Dead fell the God-hungry

Living fell the beating heart of Lenaeus

 

Taken up by Athena it was blessed with knowing

Taken up by Demeter it was blessed with vitality

Taken up by Rhea it was blessed with purification

Taken up by Zeus it was blessed with power

Devoured by Semele, Dimetor came forth

 

The ivy-haired God shone forth

Twice-born of Semele learned again

To crawl, to step, to walk, to dance, to sing, to rave, to fight

 

He took up His gifts and power in glory

His sword felled every foe before Him

His thyrsus struck frenzy into His followers

His grapes crossed the world and brought wine to all peoples

His wine poured and dythrambic verse fell in power from His mouth

His ivy marked His paths and ways for worshipers and pilgrims

To follow Him where He would lead

 

O Zagreus Dimetor, O Reborn One! You show us the Ways!

O Isodaetes, You give free that we may give!

O Mighty Dragon, Your jaws have torn the foe!

Io Dionysos!

To Phosphoros Dionysos

O Phosphoros Dionysos Who Lights the Way!

Who lifts high the Flame that the Lost may See!

The candle in the utter dark

The ember that lights the saving fire

The torch that touches off the soul

Light us afire and set us free

O Pyrogenæs!

O Soter Phoshoros Dionysos!

Evohe!  Evohe!  Evohe!

 

Faces of Dionysos

Ivy-climbed hands lift

The swollen fruit high

Laughter peals across the vineyard

 

Hooves shake Earth

The neck bends back

Blood swells from the cloven throat

 

Practiced hands lower

The mask cover over

Gods descend among the theater

 

Teeth rend flesh

The sacrifice is taken

Bite by bite from death to life