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Letters from the Muses

Page history last edited by Volkes_Wagon 13 years, 8 months ago

Melpomene

by ~VolkesWagondaOtaku

The blind man came to see me
three inches and a hair from falling to the floor
strung up like a broken marionette
by his lonely hawthorn staff...He said
(as he hobbled to my door)

"I wanted to see you."

--one last time before he died, of course.

I let him lean
his airy weight on mine, and with my arm
brought him to a chair.

"Sit."

His wound was bleeding still, shall I say
like tears, like rubies, bright stains against the plain white cloth
wrapped round what once were eyes.

"Let me tell you a story."



I
was not anything once.
Or perhaps I was everything. I can no longer tell.

In the halls of my memories there lives a girl
who could sing and dance every tune the wind
blew through the reeds of grass. It was there
Dancing in the sea of nodding blades
that I met her (and the
:wind)--
a long, long time ago.
We danced and laughed together
and she told me stories
beautiful stories
of Antigone, Medea, Oedipus, Achiles,
and a blind man who could sing like the wind;
--he had told her these tales.

But then she felt stifled
[the wind did not blow
freely there, you see]:
she stepped out
to look at me without a veil of dreams and fancy.

I was nothing, but had everything.
Strange circumstance, which never fails to cast
all love into the stormy seas.

She saw such precious wealth and joy
laid at my feet to wallow in
my ignorance
and became a sweeping hurricane.

She said I was too

Perfect

too wealthy and happy to live in this world

'and so I shall make you beautiful.'

She tore away my eyes
ripped the sinnews deep inside

:::warmbloodturnedblackandspilledacrossthesun:::

She made me into the poor beggar, the figure
with ragged robes and a twisted leg
listening in the foreign shadows.
Straining, bewildered, lost and in pain,
I listened.

...and heard what she meant when she called me
Beautiful
as I lay underneath the stained mask of tragedy.

--{The wind can sing
[and it often does]
--playing with the seas and fondling the stars}--
and perhaps my lack of sight
has let me hear what the wind is trying to say
more clearly, so that now
I can play them back.
:certainly more compelling:
(and a certain attraction too)
to a tragedy:--

Melpomene
has a voice as beautiful as
the wind among the reeds...

because of its sadness.

Comments (3)

Volkes_Wagon said

at 12:12 am on Jun 14, 2011

woah what the it even came with a box.

...anyways, completed letters from the muses contest submission. theme: ancient greek muse. i chose melpomene, muse for tragedy (lol of course i'd chose her). IT WON~~~~ well there were only two other subs, so i'd have to place something, but STILL. :D first ever lit. contest first place (golden rabbit thing didn't count, i was the only entrant and i never got my prize cuz the group was too poor to give anything...and i think it's been disbanded now). i got my 3-month premium membership subscription today. >///<

teatime said

at 11:21 am on Jun 14, 2011

That's great, v. Your poem is wonderful, not just good poetry, but meaningful as well.

Volkes_Wagon said

at 1:00 pm on Jun 14, 2011

aw, thanks. > . < but i dunno, is it too blunt?

and GOOD TO HAVE YOU BACK IN OUR TIME ZONE :D

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