The First Sorrow
By onemorething
- 2034 reads
What memory, the sinuous courses of it,
twist twist twist:
a distant chapel bell,
a moth that trembles to a light,
the burdened branch, the bristle of autumn.
She asks, moon-eyed: when was the first sorrow?
With earthgrit upon my tongue,
I reply in Latin
so that she does not understand --
I will not make a pilgrimage to the past,
I will not wriggle in the dirt.
Grandfather says,
see how I can take out my teeth
and pop them back in again,
and we are horrified,
but we laugh.
Back then I was a starling
with songs of whistles and wheezes,
and impersonations of any other bird
so that I could seem less like me
and more like you.
And I frightened the black birds:
a sharpened face and a sword-fighter,
though I did not know
how crows will mob a hawk
or who else might mob the crows;
what kind of men might.
At first, we are shielded by innocence
and love, and that we know nothing but this.
And we make our gods from that clay,
only then, when, at last we see them,
we rage and tear them down.
Father says, you want a dog,
this is a cockatoo, but its name is dog,
and we are confused,
but we laugh.
When was the first sorrow?
A dark wing ago, the length of a man ago:
ah, long ago, I tell her, long ago.
The image is The Waterfall Fairy by Ida Rentoul Outhwaite. It's in the public domain and is here: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Waterfall_Fairy_by_Ida_Rentoul_Outhwaite.jpg#mw-jump-to-license
It's not the one that inspired this poem, that's called The First Sorrow by the same artist. You'll have to look it up as I'm not sure it's in the public domain in the UK. I've used it on Twitter though so you can also see it there.
- Log in to post comments
Comments
This stunning poem by
This stunning poem by Onemorething is Pick of the Day! Please do share and retweet if you can
- Log in to post comments
This is absolutely beautiful
This is absolutely beautiful onemore! Very well deserved golden cherries
- Log in to post comments
A wonderful poem for making
A wonderful poem for making me think seriously about so many things.
But also this bit...
Grandfather says,
see how I can take out my teeth
and pop them back in again,
has made me, with my real live teeth, feel inadequate as a grandfather.
Turlough
- Log in to post comments
"...a distant chapel bell,
"...a distant chapel bell,
a moth that trembles to a light.."
A beautiful, enigmatic operetta of a poem. A pleasure to read, of course :)
- Log in to post comments
Hi Rachel,
Hi Rachel,
sorry to sound naive, your poem was so impressive, but I wasn''t sure of the message in it. Is it about not wanting to look back on younger days? I felt a mixture of sadness blended with mistrust...yet also some fond times too.
Hope you don't find me too ignorant.
Anyway the poem is a masterpiece.
Jenny.
- Log in to post comments
Your poem conjures sadness,
Your poem conjures sadness, an introspective consideration and juxtaposes it with ordinary images like the grandfather rattling his teeth and the cockatoo named Dog. The tempo and visual words are profound yet illusive. What is the “first sorrow” that must be said in Latin to hide its horror? I agree with Jennifer; this poem pulls feelings from the reader with its poetic description. Excellent poem and one I will read again.
- Log in to post comments
This is our Poem of the Month
This is our Poem of the Month - Congratulations!
- Log in to post comments
the first sorrow, unknown.
the first sorrow, unknown. the last still to come.
- Log in to post comments