Appah Calypse

[Kikuyu_Black_Paws]

I saw her once before

At a funeral

Her coat was lined with fur

And her face was half hidden

In the down of it.

He was my friend

The one who died

Died quite suddenly, in sickness

I do not know who she was to him

Or he to her

But I saw her then.

She shed no tears

She spoke no words

She stared at the casket

Her mouth a thin line of agony and loss.

What she was looking at

Was not the coffin,

She looked beyond that.

Into another world?

Into a dream?

It does not matter

What does matter is that I never suspected

Never suspected her at all.

 

Now I see her again

She still wears that furred coat

Slender and dark against her

The fur frames her face and hands,

And buttons dot the front.

She still wears that agony line on her face

But now her eyes are clear

And she is looking at me

Not beyond me, but at me

As behind her the world burns.

Nor do I know why I am the last one

The last one she should turn her gaze upon

Perhaps at the funeral she saw me as I saw her

Through the haze of her dream

Through her pain.

I never suspected it would come to this.

And the world burns,

It dies under her pain

Even now it scalds at her feet

And all has crumbled in her gaze.

 

I lie with a rose on my chest

But I feel no pain,

The thorns are buried in ice

Or fire? I cannot feel them.

Above me her mouth moves

And finally a tear slides down her cheek

And the fires grow closer

She is lost

Lost with no way of finding her way again

Or him again, I imagine

And she knows it

She knows it.

She sighs something,

I crane my head to hear

"I'm alive,

I'm alive."

I cannot make it out

She is the only one left

I am now looking at her from everywhere

From every angle

I can even see myself

Why am I so far away?

I cannot reach myself.

 

She turns away

And turns her back

On the world again

On the fire that has burned her

So many times

That now it has started in her

And consumed the earth

She walks into nothing

Into her other world

Her world free of pain

And leaves what remains

The rose growing in a white shirt

The fire dancing in the grasses

A discarded furred jacket

The laughter chained in tightened lips.

She dissolves into starlight

And blackness

While all around us dances

The ever weeping song of change

The crying out of voices

That never dies

Never grows silent

The voices that are eternal

Singing that final chorus

"I'm alive,

I'm alive."

Edited August 16, 2009 by Kikuyu Black Paws

[Peredhil]

ooooh, companion piece, entwined fraternal twinned poems. I like it! The other depressed me, the anger in this one is easier to bear. something psychological about me there...

"She still wears that agony line on her face", I like the figure of speech in this line. evocative of memories.

 

Which of y'all will write the third poem of the set, from his point of view?

[Wyvern]

Nice poem, Kikuyu. :-) The cold and damaged character depicted in it and the way that the narrator connects to her were interesting to read. I particularly liked the third stanza, with the contrasting image of the woman's tears and approaching fire, though the "anyway" at the end of the fourth line of that stanza felt a little off to me as far as tone goes. I also like the way that this piece and Degorram's "I'm Alive" compliment each other, nicely tied together there gals. :-) I must say, my biggest complaint with this poem is the title, which I find sort of gimmicky and which I don't think does the poem justice... I say give the woman a different name, and let her apocalyptic traits be implied through the poem itself!

 

Thanks for sharing this Kikuyu, cool as always. :-)

[Kikuyu_Black_Paws]

Thanks Wyv! I'll take note of those changes right away.