A performer who has finally realized her dream slips momentarily into regret - recalling the time lost working a despised job - but then realizes that, like with the ugly caterpillar that is broken and remade as a butterfly, it's perhaps all a necessary part of the eventual metamorphosis.
Thunder crack applause reminds
The butterfly of time and death
Stings away the painted smiles
The sleeping hours thorn the rose.
Mindless drone, that caterpillar!
It grovels, scrabbling filthy grub
Madly crawls in blind pursuit
Of greed and sloth, amalgam vile.
Stately limbs the air they slice
To portals with forgotten tongues
Perfect electric mudras speak
Unknowing joy, a gift divine.
Thrumming ducts of air freeze time
The eyes are near, the mind afar
Simple charm in loveless toil
The screen of hate becomes the seed.
Fragile moth, or Monarch, see!
The time is right, a wonder's born
Motley hues in dazzling 'bows[1]
Belie the tireless worm that dreamed.
Halogen floods into painted smiles
The sound of countless cheers
Gently laps each Varnam's shore
Away she soars on wings of light!
I've made quite an effort to get some kind of metre going. Most lines have a perfect sequence of iambs, but the first and third lines in each stanza start with a non-standard stressed syllable which I'm hoping adds a kind of forcefulness that sets them apart from the other lines. If you've no idea what all that means, but you find that there's a nice rhythm to the words in the poem, then something worked for me :)
Thunder crack applause reminds
The butterfly of time and death
Stings away the painted smiles
The sleeping hours thorn the rose.
Mindless drone, that caterpillar!
It grovels, scrabbling filthy grub
Madly crawls in blind pursuit
Of greed and sloth, amalgam vile.
Stately limbs the air they slice
To portals with forgotten tongues
Perfect electric mudras speak
Unknowing joy, a gift divine.
Thrumming ducts of air freeze time
The eyes are near, the mind afar
Simple charm in loveless toil
The screen of hate becomes the seed.
Fragile moth, or Monarch, see!
The time is right, a wonder's born
Motley hues in dazzling 'bows[1]
Belie the tireless worm that dreamed.
Halogen floods into painted smiles
The sound of countless cheers
Gently laps each Varnam's shore
Away she soars on wings of light!
Notes
[1] - RainbowsI've made quite an effort to get some kind of metre going. Most lines have a perfect sequence of iambs, but the first and third lines in each stanza start with a non-standard stressed syllable which I'm hoping adds a kind of forcefulness that sets them apart from the other lines. If you've no idea what all that means, but you find that there's a nice rhythm to the words in the poem, then something worked for me :)
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