5th Poem for National Poetry Month

  

SELF-PORTRAIT AS ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE

Knowing his music was empty without her,

he had to dive into those dark waters

from which none returned except as flotsam,

crustacean-nibbled and bloated with the gases of decay.

How long he hesitated, songless but safe,

on the bank. She watched him decide

through the eternal minutes of her dreading

that he could decide

to abandon the notes shimmering in the air

around his head, ignore that nimbus of power

from beauty, and walk mute

through an ordinary life. She waited in fear

until he threw himself into the waves and sank

without struggle.

Almost out, he could feel her behind him

like an insistent melody pushing through his fingers

to reach the strings. He was so full of the moment,

his greatest song, bringing her back.

Such power—who knew what he could do?

He wanted to see the wonder in her eyes,

needed the perfect last note,

pure and silvery and light as bone,

the end of sound.

Published in Heart’s Migration (Tia Chucha Press, 2009)

 

Don't forget to check out the great prizes in my pre-order contest for Every Hidden Fear here.

And I've put up the first chapter of Every Hidden Fear here.

REPLIES TO COMMENTS:

Thanks, Mary! I'm glad the poem resonated with you.


Thank you, Reine! It's always a great gift to be told that your work brings a situation/people to life. Wado!