June 30, 2007
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Onward
A man rose trembling on the shore
Where the sea had newly birthed him
His hands he ran down his wet form
To wipe the slime of old creation
And found his lean limbs ready
For joy and death
Before him lay the forest’s tangle
Beyond that rose the beckoning hills
On whose crest stood a place tall
That gleamed beneath the mastering sun
As though it were of diamonds rare
Yet of tomb’s shape
How shall I tread, he asked the sky
But sky gave back no answer
Though parrots shrieked amid the trees
If I tread life, will it not bleed
Lying crushed beneath my feet
So I would die
If I stand silent, will I not rot
Here on this burning salty strand
And all my promise so deny
To ignore thus this untrod sand
And His gift spurn
The waves crashed violent at his back
The thunder rolled about him loud
With nervous start he stepped out
His paces to the dark jungle
Driven to act
With each hard tread he crushed on life
On snail or grass or butterfly
Much as he placed his steps with care
And from his footprints oozed blood
Yet sprang up white roses also
To his relief
For the grim crimson of the One
Added fire to the other’s calm
And the cool beauty of the One
Made excuse for the other’s gore
In purpose twining
Comments (8)
I’d be mad at you if you were one of those people who wrote really well and never did anything with it.
Not even kidding.
♥
Love the poem. I am still reading. I realize I am unsufferably slow…. I have had much work to do, so only get small bits of time for pleasure. Was this poem inspired by the book?
Hugs, Tricia
Haha, I just love you.
♥
How shall I tread, he asked the sky
But sky gave back no answer
–I feel like this.
Can a man be born from the sea? I was discussing with a friend of mine just yesterday.. about a shoal of fish found on a street in Denmark recently. He thought perhaps there was a pond in the sky, whereas I believe they were probably sucked up by a giant in the sky…
Still not quite so amazing as a man being born from the sea… that must have been amazing
What is twining? Is that like two people making rope or something?
Oh look I poem’d
So is your computer working now?
Hugs, Tricia
So weird. I tried to get to Wake of the Raven through Amazon’s search and it said it wasn’t there. I was able to get there via your blog. I voted accordingly.
I really do mean to write you a review. I’ve just been insanely busy all June, now I came down with something (probably letdown from all the nutso work I was doing). I’ll get to it, I promise.
Lynn