Deo Mithrae by Bruce Rimell is an elegant, palm-of-the-hand booklet offering eight poems responding to the Mithraic temple and related shrines on Hadrian’s Wall. The author conjures the lost rites and incantations of this strange and ancient faith in fleeting glimpses and fragments, alongside observations from his own visit to the site, so that we feel we are present both in the mythology and the landscape.
These are verses evoking ‘murmurs/of the summer stars’, ‘nymphs of holy waters’, incense, torchbearers, broken stones, arcane inscriptions, the idea that there is still a lingering resonance here of the majestic mystery. Those who admire the mythic poetry of David Jones and Charles Williams will find haunting echoes of a similar prophetic quality here, and the work will also be relished by those who appreciate the fantastical tales of Roman gods in Britain by John Buchan, Arthur Machen and others.
Deo Mithrae is in a limited edition of just 35 copies, printed on 100gsm ivory paper with 120gsm antique gold endpapers and a 270gsm linen embossed cover. It is available from The Braag, an independent press from the North East of England named after a Northumbrian trickster spirit.
(Mark Valentine)
Image: Altar to Mithras (Newcastle), from Handbook to the Roman Wall by J.Collingwood Bruce, revised by Sir Ian Richmond (1966).
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