Hræfn

Cherry

By onemorething

Thu, 05 May 2022
  • 1144 reads
10 comments
 

I saw a raven in tumble flight,

drop a stone and plunge

to catch it, a wingbeat of pitch,

gloss of midnight, hackled.

 

I heard the raven laugh,

then browse the sky - 

a dark scowl, 

a relishing. 
 

Such determination

could only be wrought of love and rage, 

the kind that makes a raven follow a wolf

and a wolf follow a raven,

 

both longing for the dead --

a raven was found, once, 

in the grave of a soldier;

its wings splayed like an angel. 

 

And once, there was a white raven, 

ghostpale, heavy with the sins of history,

a seraph, of holy, holy, holy

Till sadness turned him black.

 

I do not know

what the raven remembers,

though he talks and talks, 

I think he keeps his secrets now,

I think that he is free. 

 

 

Hræfn- OE for Raven 

Image is from here: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Common_Raven_on_Seedskadee_National_Wildlife_Refuge_(16741673188).jpg

Certificate 12
Poem
Unclassified

Comments

Submitted by marandina on

Ooh one of my very favourite birds. Wolves, ravens and graves. All beautifully Poe-esque. What more can I say?! ::) 

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Well, I'll take anything Poe-like. Thanks for reading it. :)

 

Submitted by lenchenelf on

enjoyed x

best

Lena

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks Lena x

 

Submitted by celticman on

an albino raven. I wonder if it was more of an outcast than black. 

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Perhaps, though there's a tale that Apollo loved ravens and they had been white. However, as much as he liked them, they also annoyed him greatly. Once, so greatly that he turned them black. There are leucistic ravens, but rare - the gene is recessive and I think they have poor immune systems, albino raven even more so. 
Thanks for the cherries. 

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

I liked your "plunge" at the line end, and "browse" the sky, linked with eye brows for scowl, that's clever  :0)

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks Di. 

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

one of my favourites too, and you have done them justice with this gem, thank you

 

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

So many secrets the raven carries, your poem is evocative of the mystery surrounding this enigmatic bird.

Jenny.