His ancient gaze raised to settle finally
Upon himself, nursing memory where
It is willing, only to find most of his life
Forgotten as if he had whistled it from his ears
As steam and he hadn’t noticed, or cared perhaps,
Why should he have cared? God knows,
He knows the value of his wisdom
These days, late – yes - he lifts an eyebrow
To resurrect surprise, nods to himself at times
Or sometimes at the birds who disperse
Like omens into the trees, not that it matters,
Why should it matter? We all breathe it
Out wheezily when we say, ‘if I had
Known then’, if he had been able
To overcome the fatalism and presumption
Of nothingness, the uneventful, those days
Populated by silent eyed mockery,
But those faces have passed, who looks at him now?
As insignificant today under the lime trees
As he had ever imagined himself to be,
To discover hubris in making no mark
Almost with intent, some fate this was – no –
Not even a footprint for the sand, and demand of time
On him was not reflection: how can you reflect upon a myth?
Comments
LawOfTheOne | June 7, 2008 - 02:17
Thought this was very good. The ending in particular, the last line is brilliant. I like Turgenev, First Love is one of my favorite books, even though it's quite short.
Ewan | June 7, 2008 - 07:17
I always enjoy your poetry as it is often intelligent and playful at the same time. For example, this image is both I think
'only to find most of his life
Forgotten as if he had whistled it from his ears
As steam'
Очeнь хорошо!
Ewan
Doeslittle | June 7, 2008 - 19:24
Thanks LOTO and Ewan. I'm half way through Mumu now -a very sad story which I doubt I'll post a poem about. I wish I knew what the Greek meant...
Ewan | June 9, 2008 - 09:58
It's Russian for very good: two Greek monks invented the Cyrillic alphabet, which is why it looks a bit like Greek.
jennifer | June 9, 2008 - 10:33
I love this image:
'nursing memory where
It is willing'
So true of all of us, I think!
Stunning writing.
Doeslittle | June 9, 2008 - 18:27
Doh. Ah well, it's all Greek to me...
Thanks Jennifer.
Foster | June 11, 2008 - 02:22
Mumu is one of my favorites. If you've read Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck, I'd be curious to know if you drew any similarities. Obviously, Turgenev was first!
This poem is very good, but I'm not crazy about the word "wheezily" - seems you could work harder there, but really, one word doesn't drag this poem down!