I wander for water in no-man's land
But searching there gains none,
Instead I find the dragon's breath
My cheek licked by his tongue.
With slap and sting the tongue's fork scorched
The hollow in my face,
Now branded there, my voice shrieks out,
"My shame, my life's disgrace!"
The dragon speaks, voice low and deep
With rumblings all around,
Yet voice upon voice, with echoes, lost,
I can not hear a sound.
In fear I tremble as I seek
Approval in his eye,
I hope therefore, by pleasing him
He'll spare me this goodbye.
With furrowed brow, his eyes bore deep
I know that I have lost,
He squints them tight as jaw grows wide,
Demanding by fire, my cost.
My flesh begins to melt away
From skin on down to bone,
I scream in pain as flames expose
All hurt I've ever known.
...
I wander naked through the woods
I do not know my name,
For all that was before is gone
And only bones remain.
________
In gratitude, this poem was inspired by many blogs I've been reading lately: Thanks to Rick from The Writer and The White Cat for the dragon inspiration. Thanks to Jason, from The Clarity of Night on getting in touch with your pain, and thanks to K from Old Mossy Moon for reminding me how much I love rhyming and how fun it is to read. All the links are on the right side of my page under the heading "Blogs in my community".
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29 comments:
Cat - I am humbled to know that I have helped to inspire this poem. Aren't dragons awful and wonderful at the same time? Good read! ;)
My favorite stanza:
The dragon speaks, voice low and deep
with rumblings all around,
yet voice upon voice, with echoes lost,
I can not hear a sound.
Thanks K, and yes, they are awful and wonderful too, I'm glad they are there, despite the pain they cause. Apparently many feel the same us we, because they are certainly popular creatures. :-)
Regarding the stanza, also my favorite. Perhaps because although I do not always hear the voice as I bumble unconsciously through life, I always hear the rumblings and it seems to be calling me to look deeper, to go beyond...or perhaps just to strive for forward motion when I am stuck.
K Lawson, always an early riser, said it first- that is a wonderful stanza.
I've begun a collection of Dragon lore, but do you know I have not yet run across a volume of Dragon poetry? What a wonderful illustrated volume that would make.
Later tonight, I think I'll drop by and read your poem out loud. Have you noticed that difference- the difference between reading poetry silently versus out load?
Rick, oh yes, I am a great admirer of the spoken poem. In fact, at some point in the not too distant future, I will begin posting audio to my site. Not to give away too much too soon...stay tuned!
Perhaps I shall do more dragon poems, they are very cathartic. I think I might even have a few buried away in journals of the past, a treasure quest is perhaps in order...
Oh, and YES it would make a wonderful illustrated volume. I'd like to nominate my son to illustrate it. (Proud parent moment) check out his artwork at www.jankywino.blogspot.com.
Ooh, hard to argue against a treasure quest! That sounds like fun.
Hi Catvibe. I went to the URL to see your sons work, and all I got were (not t-shirts) notices about when Blogger would be down for upgrades! What timing, huh? I'll go back later.
very compelling... i love the end!
Thanks AC! Always great to see you here. I just edited the poem a bit...Do you ever do that, edit the poem after you've posted it?
Wow, this poem is so intense,
powerfully written, yet the
submissive quality exuded as
you hand your fate over to
the Dragon is so well done.
Powerful. If only I could words wrap around feelings this way… I barely manage two short lines :-)
Yes, sometimes it happens to rethink and replace a word here, a comma there...
Usually it is because I have not let it settle down inside enough.
I love the statement about "approval" and the notion of how many of us hold this as the bane of our existence. We begin this as children with out parents, then grow to extent this to our peers, our employers and our partners/children. In the end, we end up confusing if not losing much of who we are, and then spend our 30's-60's searching for ourselves (aka: the midlife crisis).
Very reflective and inspired/inspiring.
Cynthia, thank you, nice to see you here. It is an intense metaphor for sure. More on the submissive qualities when I answer Minister's post.
Fida, thank you and welcome! Poetry has always come easily to me. Probably because of my singing background, and exposure to thousands upon thousand of lyrics which are also poems. Of course they aren't always good poems, and only practice and editing makes them good. :-) Keep working at it! I like your blog postings on travel. Especially the part about Vietnamese food stands. Good eating at those stands, yes?
Minister, you pretty much hit the nail on the head. I think that approval bit is the source of a huge amount of my personal 'pain' and results in what my personality looks like 'out there'. I'd be happy to see it go. Hasta la vista unhealthy need. ;-) So I willingly submit to the dragon's fire if it frees me from that particular unpleasant drive.
On the other hand, I would still like to get my work recognized by the general public, but I think that's a different story.
Cat, I thought of Rick's posts when I started reading your poem.
I love it! I love its rhythm, its imagery. I find it very powerful and so very true...
I scream in pain as flames expose
All hurt I've ever known
This is not physical pain. Excellent!
Thanks Vesper and welcome! True enough indeed! I am finding Rick's posts to be very inspiring. And I must say you have quite a way with words yourself. Looking forward to reading more of your work.
What a treat to have this vision into your thoughts. Emotion packed in verse.
You've captured the hardest truth. The wonderfully exciting search is also the fuel of the pain.
Circular. One feeding the other.
Thanks Jason, and welcome to my private little world of mystery and intrigue. The journey is the best part! (An INFJ ya know). Which is a good thing since as an idealist, there's a good chance I will never get 'there' in this lifetime. And yet knowing that seems like some kind of 'there' after all. I'm really enjoying the posts of you and your wife. Very wise folks you are, and as a team you two are very powerful helpers along the path.
this is an excellent poem. --only bones remain--that is such a perfect ending to the theme of supplication, hope, and ultimately consumption by fire.
Thanks Billy, and welcome. I was just browsing over at your side of town and I see I have some good reading ahead of me. Your poem on hope is delicious. And I thank you for Publexicon, can't wait to read your advice there.
Wonderful poem! The last stanza is my favorite. I see such hope now-- with just bones remaining she can become what she wants to be. (Yeah, I know... typical idealist-- always looking toward the future!)
Made me think of my favorite dragon in rhyme: Puff the Magic Dragon.
:)
Aine, hello and welcome to the boneyard! You got it sister, that was the point of the poem, and also the beginning of the sequel. Heh heh...only an idealist, eh? Of course the best part about being one is there is ALWAYS so much to look forward to!
This is a very powerful poem. I love it, especially the last stanza. I'm always impressed with powerful endings. Very nice form, too. I love the dragons:) Beautiful imagery! I will go back to read it again, because I keep finding new things that I like about this piece. Thanks for posting it!
Welcome back from your vacation Julie! I'm glad you're enjoying the poem, I keep finding new things in it to and I wrote the thing! I love that about symbols and metaphors, they hide in the mists and then magically appear.
I loved the turn at the beginning of the third stanza, all the way to the end. A touch of the mythical at the start, then something symbolic (as pointed out by other readers) -- psyche-based -- developing along the way (from the line "I seek approval"). ;) Cheers, dear.
You know, Catvibe, the more I read this poem, the more I like it!
S.L., So wonderful to see you here!
Rick, That's because each time you come back I've edited it just that many more times. ;-)
All this talent and a sense of humor, too!
You'll be happy that this morning I spent several hours lost in the mists doing quite a hefty freewrite in search of the water dragon. Still not sure what final form it will take, but it is a wild and crazy place in that landscape I am discovering.
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