Heart of Snow
By onemorething
- 1011 reads
A snowflake has a core of dust,
gentle until it forms the cruelty of ice,
as heavy as penance. Until it travels under
the force of its own density from a corrie in cuts;
a journey that gathers and gathers burdens,
yields children of spurs and hummocks,
pocked by suncups.
Every glacier collects moraine as holy relics,
a history of debris as proof of life -
a frozen vehicle that is neither dead, nor silent,
but labours, sleeping, beneath its own crack
and thunder, breaking, in spite of itself,
swan-white packed to an airless blue, set
against an anthem of the spectrum of light.
It is hard to judge what is self-destruction
or reconstruction, and I have grown cold,
waiting, veins that still run with blood, now
thick as honey, but I will continue to weigh
each heart by its content, and that alone.
Yes, it's another ekphrastic poem. And yes, it's a painting by E R Hughes. It's called Heart of Snow. Once again too, which is possibly why I also find his paintings so appealing, it is connected to his reading of La Beauté by Baudelaire. The painting is from here: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edward_Robert_Hughes_-_Srdce_snehu.jpg
Also if you're interested, various translations of La Beauté. https://fleursdumal.org/poem/116
And on Twitter, I added this painting: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bruno_Liljefors_-_Streching_swans_1915.jpg
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Comments
So many moving parts stemming
So many moving parts stemming from a simple snow flake. Just wonderful.
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I agree. Wonderful.
I agree. Wonderful.
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A gorgeous poem, read while
A gorgeous poem, read while the snow fell outside. Thank you for sharing.
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I now also fully understand
I now also fully understand the term 'ekphrastic', so double-bubble for me!
I wrote a short ekphrastic story based on an engraving I'd seen last year. I'll have to dig it out and see if I can get my hands on the image too.
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Such an effective poem Rachel
Such an effective poem Rachel, both stunning in creativity, but also detail too. I just adored that painting...so beautiful in every way.
Jenny.
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I liked this very much. I
I liked this very much. I read it while trying to get up courage to go for a walk :0) I will look at the snowflakes differently, if I do! These days snowflake has just a feeble meaning, but here you give them a huge existence, they become like Miss Haversham, turned by a chilling event in their past from softness to cruelty, then making those around them cruel, too. Lots of great lines and it has the feeling of drifting. And how you start with "A snowflake and finish with "alone" with glaciers in between. I would not wish insomnia on anyone, but am glad you rode it to the place this poem came from
ps the Baudelaire poem is a man's point of view (as is the painting, I do hope no one was expected to actually pose on the snow!)It is is brilliant how you turn it round, explain the cause
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pps I had got almost half way
pps I had got almost half way round the woods before realising what your last line meant!
Perfect!
Is strange re your comment to Jenny - I don't like those paintings at all, they always seem to me to objectify women, yet your poems always seem like a mirror and do the opposite, go inside the subject's history, and dreams
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