At The Outskirts Of Gethsemane; Springtime

[after Wallace Stevens' poem, "A Weak Mind In The Mountains"]

 

Strange things are happening . . . tonight!

Strange shapes glow in the torches' light.

Strange visions promise ghastly fright.

Strange sounds tell my warped soul, "Take flight!"

 

Srange things are happening . . . tonight!,

as if some force is poised to smite

the very land with dearth and blight,

to suffer in a morbid plight.

 

Strange things are happening . . . tonight.

My comarades think I am not bright,

this late.  They say my fears are trite,

and my expressed objections slight.

 

Strange things are happening . . . tonight.

A huge, demonic bird, in sight

on the temple's tower's height,

had caught a victim, in its beak held tight.

 

Strange things are happening . . . tonight.

A local execution site

was readied with an eager spite

to serve a plot that is not right.

 

Strange things are happening . . . tonight.

All of my bones now ache for flight,

to rid myself of this dire plight.

What strength I have left is too slight

as if I have been shackled, tight,

unable, even, to twitch left or right.

Strange . . . things . . . are happening . . . tonight . . . .

 

Starward

 

[jlc]

 

Author's Notes/Comments: 

Although I am loathe to annotate my poems, as a general rule, I must give credit for the first line in each stanza and the last line in the last stanza.  During sixth grade year (1969-1970), my best friend, Jimmy, and I used to amuse ourselves, and aggravate parents, teachers, and other authority figures by repeating those words in voices as weird as we could make them.  Then we would burst out into nearly hysterical laughter.  While reading the Stevens poem cited supra, I began to hear that line again  after forty-six years. 

 

 

 

Some of the imagery was inspired by the waste land imagery contained in T S Eliot's poem, The Waste Land (especially part V), as derived from Jessie Weston's monograph, From Ritual To Romance.

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Blackwingedbird's picture

Good tale and great bit of

Good tale and great bit of background.

S74rW4rd's picture

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.


Starward