Merlin

[scatteroflight]

I.

I only follow now
she has always been ahead of me

burning for the black water of her hair
as I always have


II.

Hawthorn will be my end
it will be
the sweetness of the blossoms

I will be alive without knowing it


III.

White flowers
soft as her breasts

The skin of my hands was always the bark of a hawthorn tree
rough and scarred
now at the point of joining
the tree is taking me


IV.

I see through her golden eyes
as she watches me with the bright indifference of a falcon
I see my face twisting, withering
paling to the colour of the flowers

And the book is above me
in her lucent hands
virgin pages
soon to hold my life
as she starts to write


V.

I remember the aching quiet
with only the scratching of the quill
writing me away into the dark

[This message has been edited by scatteroflight (edited 06-08-2001).]

[This message has been edited by scatteroflight (edited 06-09-2001).]

 

[travu2]

This poem is so beautifully unassuming. I admire how you were able to use images and language to create an atmosphere that is so subtle and intimate. I think that last stanza is amazing.. the poem just sort of whispers itself to an end. I think it must have taken a lot of patience to get this out the way you wanted to, and that is a wonderful trait to have. Thank you for sharing this.

 

[foray]

I agree about verse V! Very understated and tied up nicely.

foray

 

[scatteroflight]

Thanks for the nice comments

I thought it might interest someone to see the painting that kind of inspired this poem. I think it came from a few places, actually--I've spent a lot of time studying and reading about the Arthurian legend, and I'm getting an Arthurian short story published in an anthology later this year. But this is one of my favourite paintings, by a nineteenth-century painter named Edward Burne-Jones. (I'm just going to include the link, I'm not sure about this whole pasting pictures directly into the forum thing...)
http://sunsite.dk/cgfa/burne/p-burne28.htm

 

[The Wanderer]

this is gorgeous

I'd like to read your short story, Scatteroflight

hope you post it sometime