Cymidei Cymeinfoll

Carbon and quartz, granite and marble.
Her iron bones were forged in fire.
Her heavy body was carved from stone.

She rose up through black water and rocky soil,
up to the out and around, and was born into
the green and growing ground.

And as she walked, the ground rumbled and shook,
rocks rolled and tumbled from the mountains.
And the Roman roads crumbled where she stepped. 

She brought a gift they did not ask for; a vessel
forged in fire from the womb of the earth — 
a life-giving cauldron of renewal and birth.  

They invited her to their feast table, but
soon grew tired of her tangled hair
and her muddy feet and fingernails.

They tried to destroy her with the fire and forge
that gave her birth. And though she escaped,
the screams of her dying children forever ring in her ears.

The truth is, you are all the same to her.
Her cauldron is and always was nothing more than
the belly of the earth that birthed her.

And now she is no longer your ally.
Her heavy footsteps cause the snow to slide in avalanches
and rocks to tumble and bury your villages.

Her breath is the howling wind
and her voice is the crashing thunder.

Her blood rises and spews from volcanoes that
pour hot lava down the mountains.

Her tears are the rain that pummels your homes
and the rising flood waters
that will wash your world away.

In the Welsh Mabinogion, Cymeinfoll, also known as Cymidei Cymeinfoll (Pregnant in Battle) was the wife of Llasar Llaesgyfnewid. Together they were the keepers of the Cauldron of Regeneration. Every six weeks Cymidei Cymeinfoll gave birth to a fully formed and armed warrior. She was both larger than and dominant towards her husband whose only role seems to be as the guardian of the cauldron.

It is thought that as guardian of the Cauldron of Regeneration and a warrior goddess Cymidei Cymeinfoll may actually be an aspect of Branwen herself.

Source of background info: http://www.celtnet.org.uk/gods_c/cymeinfoll.html

This poem was published on the Feminism and Religion Blog June 6, 2024.