Boudicca’s Prayer on the Birth of Her First Daughter by Hayley Arrington

 

Art by Lucy Pierce

I have labored long
and I come to you now
with my prize, a daughter,
O, Invincible One!
My daughter,
newly born,
still wet with birth—
My limbs still stiff
from bracing and birthing.
O, Lady,
my daughter is my true Victory!
At the precipice, I cried your name—
I thank thee, Andraste, and call upon thee as woman speaking to woman*
I have risen from childbed.
I will rise to motherhood
and anything else that comes my way
for I am under your protection
now and always.

*This line is a supposed quote of Boudicca’s, from Historia Romana by Dio Cassius

Poem and art from our upcoming anthology, In Defiance of Oppression -The Legacy of Boudicca.

Hayley Arrington is a mythologist, poet, and writer. She received her MA in women’s spirituality from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, CA, where she wrote her thesis on Celtic sun goddesses. Her writings have appeared in various publications online and in print, including previous Girl God publications, On the Wings of Isis and Inanna’s Ascent; Whole and Holy: A Goddess Devotional, and SageWoman Magazine. Her interests include mythology and folklore as sacred text, writing essays, fiction and poetry, and discovering women’s myriad ways of knowing. She is a polytheist Witch and is particularly devoted to Pelasgian Hera. Hayley is from the greater Los Angeles area, where she lives with her husband and son. Learn more at her Arthurian Witch blog at loathlylady.wordpress.com.