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Mayfly
A poem about a mayfly, a rose, an oak tree, a mountain and a star. There is a recorded song version of this somewhere but I think it works much better as poem…….
Above the quiet pool, the dance,
Of passion on one windless day.
For these few hours she'll take her chance,
'til time or trout takes life away.
While dancing where a flower grows,
Her certain end brings fears anew.
Said the mayfly to the rose,
"I'd like eternal life like you."
Time does his work with blunted blade,
On faces filled with beauty fair.
Alas, her petals all shall fade,
And joy replaced with grim despair.
"The bindweed will entwine and choke.
My life will end in days so few."
Said the rose unto the oak,
"I'd like eternal life like you."
The oak stands sturdy, strong and wide.
A thousand years have come and passed.
But none can temper time and tide,
And even she will breathe her last.
"My leaves and branches form a cloak;
While hidden weeping wounds accrue."
To the mountain said the oak,
"I'd like eternal life like you."
A silver stream in this lead land,
Neath angry skies will wash away,
A speck of dust, a grain of sand,
To wear and weaken day by day.
By night cruel frosts will crack and mar;
The hardest stone will split and skew.
Said the mountain to the star,
"I'd like eternal life like you."
A lone star in the dark and cold,
Through distance vast, she shines this jewel,
Through ages that so slow unfold,
Her light falls on the mayfly's pool.
"Some live more in one single day,
Than I in countless centuries do.
Oh, mayfly, mayfly how I pray,
I wish I'd lived a life like you."
