Looking for North

[Kishana Mornai]

I stand at the center

Center of the compass.

North south east west.

 

I lift my foot to travel north

But the compass spins

Whirling round and round

Or is that me?

Spinning aimlessly.

 

Where is north?

Where is south?

Where am I?

 

A blur of arrows round my feet –

It makes me dizzy.

To faint

– sinking into soft blameless pressureless dark –

Or not to faint?

[Ozymandias]

Argh! And me without my copy of Hamlet. Curses!

 

*sprints off to find another*

 

Aha. Here it is: Hamlet's most famous soliloqy is in Act three, Scene one. Were you referencing it ("To be, or not to be...") in "To faint

– sinking into soft blameless pressureless dark –

Or not to faint?". If so, or if not, well played.

 

...no horrifc pun intended there... {:>)

 

Seriously, those three lines are very Shakespearean in langauge and at the same time evocative of that famous speech, making the entire poem feel very like a quandry as deep as Hamlet's, but more like that brutal a battle between fear and curiousity, maybe even wonder, instead of our poor Dane's misery and rage.

 

Well said.