The oldest stories forgotten<\/p>\n
blood-stained tales told<\/p>\n
to young children of old gods<\/p>\n
born in new fantasies . . .<\/p>\n
A curtain of snow opens,<\/p>\n
cold, blue gloom lurks<\/p>\n
on frozen wastelands<\/p>\n
where starving men ride<\/p>\n
horses following baying dogs<\/p>\n
chases the prey dodging<\/p>\n
snowdrifts beneath snow-laden branches,<\/p>\n
evergreens shaking, spilling needles<\/p>\n
of ice on panting deer, streaming<\/p>\n
blood pounding adrenaline racing<\/p>\n
men hunting the old Stag<\/p>\n
King, a god who knows<\/p>\n
how to die with dogs flying<\/p>\n
at hooves stamping powdered ice<\/p>\n
beating hearts rushing blood dragging<\/p>\n
deer fallen on it\u2019s side, steaming<\/p>\n
and panting as snow stains<\/p>\n
red with warm blood gurgling<\/p>\n
life flowing out until dead<\/p>\n
eyes stare at nothing<\/p>\n
in the glacial sky<\/p>\n
and men carry the carcass,<\/p>\n
tongue lolling lifelessly,<\/p>\n
in a crude sleigh made<\/p>\n
from rough wood, carved with<\/p>\n
stone and rain and wind, the sleigh<\/p>\n
blackened by time, carrying<\/p>\n
a promise<\/p>\n
beneath evergreen branches<\/p>\n
promising<\/p>\n
through the cold, blue gloom<\/p>\n
on frozen wastelands<\/p>\n
where starving men ride,<\/p>\n
bringing hope,<\/p>\n
the promised<\/p>\n
gift of life opened by death<\/p>\n
forgotten memories remembered<\/p>\n
in red robes trimmed with white fur,<\/p>\n
blood stains upon cold snow,<\/p>\n
the old Stag King gives birth<\/p>\n
and Santa carries gifts<\/p>\n
in a sleigh pulled by reindeer<\/p>\n
riding the back of the cold wind<\/p>\n
on the longest night of winter<\/p>\n
with his gifts<\/p>\n
promising<\/p>\n
a symbolic sun rises again<\/p>\n
carried through the sky<\/p>\n
on the longest night of winter<\/p>\n
promises<\/p>\n
spring riding the back of the cold wind<\/p>\n
promising<\/p>\n
snow melting under a rising sun,<\/p>\n
growing stronger hope day by day,<\/p>\n
a fantasy making life bearable<\/p>\n
on the longest night of icy winter.<\/p>\n
The oldest stories forgotten<\/p>\n
blood-stained tales told<\/p>\n
to young children of old gods<\/p>\n
born into new fantasies . . .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The oldest stories forgotten blood-stained tales told to young children of old gods born in new fantasies . . . A curtain of snow opens, cold, blue gloom lurks on frozen wastelands where starving men ride horses following baying dogs chases the prey dodging snowdrifts beneath snow-laden branches, evergreens shaking, spilling needles of ice on panting deer, streaming blood pounding adrenaline racing men hunting the old Stag King, a god who knows how to die with dogs flying at hooves stamping powdered ice beating hearts rushing blood dragging deer fallen on it\u2019s side, steaming and panting as snow stains red with warm blood gurgling life flowing out until dead eyes stare at nothing in the glacial sky and men carry the carcass, tongue lolling lifelessly, in a crude sleigh made from rough wood, carved with stone and rain and wind, the sleigh blackened by time, carrying a promise beneath evergreen branches promising through the cold, blue gloom on frozen wastelands where starving men ride, bringing hope, the promised gift of life opened by death forgotten memories remembered in red robes trimmed with white fur, blood stains upon cold snow, the old Stag King gives birth and Santa carries gifts in a sleigh pulled by reindeer riding the back of the cold wind on the longest night of winter with his gifts promising a symbolic sun rises again carried through the sky on the longest night of winter promises spring riding the back of the cold wind promising snow melting under a rising sun, growing stronger hope day by day, a fantasy making life bearable on the longest night of icy winter. The oldest stories forgotten blood-stained tales told to young children of old gods born into new fantasies . . .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2075\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}