You Call to Me

You call to me
On a moonlit night
You flow through me like honey
Pure blissful delight

You call to me
And I ache to hear
You weave through me such music
Two souls dancing near

You call to me
And your voice sounds like silver
Forked lightning
You burn through me
You burn

You call to me
I can see your eyes
Twin suns ablaze with fire
A golden sunrise

You call to me
My heart’s not my own
I feel you all around it
You’ve made it your home

You call to me
And your voice sounds like silver
Forked lightning
You burn through me
You burn

You call to me
I walk down your path
All falls away to darkness
My light is your laugh

You call to me
I float in your deep
You ring me in blue fire
And swallow to keep

You call to me
And your voice sounds like silver
Forked lightning
You burn through me
You burn

You call to me
And your voice sounds like silver
Forked lightning
You burn through me
You burn

You burn

© AM (Xander) Hunter August 2024

Dinner Mug

A challenge

It’s old cracked and worn
From the love that it’s seen
In the light you can still see a trace

At the back of our cupboard
It sits alone and unwashed
Ol’ shadowed time capturing a face

The only thing I have left
To remember you by
And looking at it now sadness drips

Opportunities lost
Hidden words left unsaid
Heart like ropes over which I still trip

They don’t understand why
It still sits on that shelf
Keep telling me to get something new

That while it still sits there
It’s like you’re still around
Their heads are thick, words just don’t get through

In the morning I sit
Tell you how well I slept
The trivial things you never heard

And for a brief moment
Twirling feathers in air
I lift off from the ground like a bird

Things will change, I know that
I’m not fooling myself
Gripping tight till it tears me apart

I’ll look at the cupboard
And just see an old mug
Not time mending pieces of my heart

© July 2023 AM (Xander) Hunter

The Moon is So Pretty

For Hyunjin

Staring up at the moon
Light reaching out
Pulsing

Like the blood
In my
Veins

Life’s river

Making its way
Over
And through
Till it reaches home

Sometimes shadowed
Or tinged blood red
Surrounded by darkness

Is it the same moon
That you see?

You know it’s that
Darkness
That makes the moon
Shine
So brightly

You are my moon

So far away
And yet so close
I could
Almost
Reach up and
Touch
Your face

Bringing such joy
Just by being
you

Even in darkness
Your light
Helps me find my
Heart
Like a lantern
I hold it up and
Find my way

If I’m the moon
Then it’s the moon by day
Hidden by light
Surrounded by the bright

Noone sees me there
Barely visible
Do I even care
As long as I
Can be me?
In all my me-ness?

Shadows all around
Making stupid noises
Stubbing my toe
Knowing that
I still shine
Regardless

Maybe someone
Looks up
Sees me
Like I see you

I look at its brightness
And shine
Borrowing its light
Matching it with mine

The moon is so pretty

Poem – The Moon is so Pretty

© July 2023 AM (Xander) Hunter

This is me

I am here
I am me
in every way
that I can be

I have wings
See me soar
I have voice
Hear me roar

I will stand up
I will speak out
My truth is clear
No fear no doubt

Here’s my sword
Here’s my shield
I am strong
I will not yield

I am clothed
In my finery
My light shines out
This is me

© AM (Xander) Hunter March 2023

Video of the song
About the creative process behind the song

Always Being Born

For Wendy with love

When my body’s tired
And my soul seems sore
And it feels like I
Can dance no more
And there’s many rugged miles
Just to reach your door
I look within
I look within
And I shed my skin
I shed my skin

I see Venus on the horizon
I sing my soul to ground
Draw down the sparkling starlight
To light me all around
I clothe myself in moonlight
I draw warmth from the dawn
Like the ever-expanding universe
I delight in my new form
Cause Like the ever-expanding universe
I am always being born

© AM (Xander) Hunter September 2022

Fairytales have Answers

Searching for answers I don’t know
What the questions are
When life is overwhelming me
And where to head is far
Directions spin like children’s toys
I am the dust of stars
Drifting through these endless days
Spreading near and far

My heart is filled with darkness and then
Sudden bursts of light
My arms hold the universe
I sing mist into night
Across the blackened sea me myself I
Sail over the moon
Night may hold eternity
But Dawn comes all too soon

Gather up my ponderings I
Enfold them in my breath
Give them to the winds of fate
My uncertain quest
Dancing on the swirling breeze they
Travel far and wide
While I await here patiently
On this eternal ride

A labyrinth of endless pain
Contains my question mark
Wrapped in soul I feel my way
Fight shadows in the dark
Endless turning pulls me free from
My embodied state
Shattered pieces lie before my
Shining three-fold gate

And when there’s nothing left but echoes
In the screaming winds
Deep waters swirling still
From where I might have been
A pile of scattered blackened ash that’s
Still warm from the spark
I find myself facing me
Reflections in the glass

In my quest for truth and wisdom I hold
Close the central part
That it is the journeying
Connecting mind to heart
I am the brightest flame above
The deepest darkest well
Shining in my loving arms
Myself my answers tell

Fairytales have answers
My fairytales have answers

What is your question?

© AM (Xander) Hunter August 2022

My Requiem and I

A solstice song

My Requiem and I
Walked a crooked path
By and by
By and by
And as we walked along
We thought we heard a laugh
By and by
By and by
My Requiem and I
Followed this silver song
By and by
By and by
And like a river’s tide
It pulled us along
By and by
By and by
My Requiem and I
Came across a tree
By and by
By and by
There we left a kiss of gold
From the Honey Bee
By and by
By and by
My Requiem and I
Solstice Blessings bade
By and by
By and by
May the coming year ahead
Be sweet and joyous made
By and by
By and by
My Requiem and I
Walked a crooked path
By and by
By and by
And as we walked along
We thought we heard a laugh
By and by
By and by

© AM (Xander) Hunter December 2021

About the song

Held Within

I hold a cross inside my heart
And it is the crossroads of my Art
Around its centre is a ring
And it’s the one I dance within

I hold a cross inside my heart
And it is the crossroads of my Art
Around its centre is a ring
it’s the one in which I dance within

Deep within it lies a Flame
And at its centre your Divine Name

I hold a cross inside my heart
And it is the crossroads of my Art
Around its centre is a ring
And it’s the one I dance within

I hold a cross inside my heart
And it is the crossroads of my Art
Around its centre is a ring
it’s the one in which I dance within

All that I was and ever shall be again
Lies here at the Centre
Held within your Flame

Listen to the Song

© Copyright AM (Xander) Hunter, May 2022

About the song

In Your Eyes

In your eyes
I can see a future
In your eyes
The world is full of wonder
With you watching
I’m no longer afraid

I have wings
And it feels like I’m flying
A new born phoenix
Emerged from what’s dying
And I can do
Anything
Life’s always worth trying

In your eyes
I am strength and beauty
In your eyes
I am grace and courage
With you watching
I’m a figure sublime

I have wings
And it feels like I’m flying
A new born phoenix
Emerged from what’s dying
And I can do
Anything
Life’s always worth trying

In your eyes
I see understanding
In your eyes
Love is all embracing
With you watching
Life’s a beautiful dance

I have wings
And it feels like I’m flying
A new born phoenix
Emerged from what’s dying
And I can do
Anything
Life’s always worth trying

I have wings
And it feels like I’m flying
A new born phoenix
Emerged from what’s dying
And I can do
Anything
Life’s always worth trying

In your eyes
In your eyes
In your eyes

Listen to the song

© AM (Xander) Hunter March 2020

About the song

Inspirations: The Importance of Voice

The first lines of the Mirror revealed themselves to me after first experiencing a Mama Alto performance. I found the way that she wove song and social commentary together while still providing an intimate experience through voice and personality to be enchanting. I was bedazzled from seeing reflections of myself and the world I live within that I’d rarely acknowledged.

And so the Song became a Mirror.

The first verse and chorus came quickly but I was distracted and put it down.

When I picked up my song again some months later I was struck by the power of Voice; of those who are loud, those who are silent; of those who listen and of those who turn away.

My focus changed from the song to the singer, and the resemblance to a Goddess of my tradition we know as Weaver. The singer weaves through her voice our Wyrd, spinning us into reflections; shapes of shadows and light that dance upon the surface of her vastness as we struggle to feel, to reflect, to understand.

The last verse came much later than the first two. It came in a rush of world events that demonstrated once again the power of voice. Students, victims of violence, who had been silenced by the powers that be finding their voice; finding power in their voice and inspiring others to stand against injustice  and oppression. For it is in choosing to remain silent, to not act, that true horror comes.

And of course, it is the artist, the singer, the poet who has the tools to show society the truth hidden in plain sight.

The Mirror shows a side of us not all wish to see, but those who do and who choose embrace what they see, who become more than mere reflections, can affect such amazing feats.