Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.
~Martin Luther King Jr.
Brenda shared this poem from the Summer Poem Swap a while back and I had the urge to share it again this week.
Crow’s report from the White Witch’s courtyard
by Tabatha Yeatts
for Brenda
[Edmund] saw that there were dozens of statues all about…They all looked so strange standing there perfectly life-like and also perfectly still, in the bright cold moonlight, that it was eerie work crossing the courtyard.
~The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S.Lewis
this wind-follower, tree-singer
shackled in stone
has roused from sleep
to scan the state of the world:
caw, wish I could squint
against the light
glinting off frozen larch-girls,
twiggy hands hiding their faces,
and round-bellied
beavers, caught in mid step.
can't look up at the sky
but there's naught I would change
of the flights I risked,
the songs I revealed
that landed me here.
does anyone seek
to save us?
though the snow is soft,
its reflection blinds me
much as the statues,
and I think of sleep again.
hear I the faint rumble of the
wheels of justice turning
in the distance?
in my mind,
my outstretched wing
points to a future
where the wand bearer's power
is snapped,
where the sun's breath
touches our upturned faces,
and our colors flame again.
************
TeacherDance has the Poetry Friday round-up today. Thanks, Linda!
17 comments:
Since I missed it at Brenda's, I am so glad to read your poem here this week, Tabatha! Yes, there is still life beneath the snow - still warmth that will melt it in time, we can all hope.
I'm glad you posted again, Tabatha. It is interesting to me to compare today's times with those of C.S. Lewis, but beyond the magic of Narnia,it's clear he knew of fears, and how they might be melted. Thanks!
I hadn't read this before, so I am so glad you re-shared. It is wonderful on its own, and the quote of course adds another dimension. Wonderful!
Very vivid scene setting. I like the outstretched wing & colors flaming!
I love it!
A haunting beauty of a poem, Tabatha - these words will stick in my mind for days: does anyone seek
to save us?
This. Poem. What a lovely, poignant thing. It makes me wish I could recapture the reading of that book again for the first time.
The magic persists.
Thank you! the haunting and the ache in the poem is perfect for November.
Magnificent! Missed it before, thanks for posting it again. :)
You do have a way with world-building, Tabatha. This poem leaves me pining for more. And OH, that last line! WowWowWow.
Haunting, aching and beautiful. We had our first snow of the winter this week, so I read these words as the snow fell.
I dream that future too. Hard to believe it's been almost a year.
I'm so glad you shared this. It would be so fun to share with kids reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The couplet "Does anyone seek to save us?" will echo in my mind for a long time.
It is a beautiful poem--and still so timely to today. I'm glad you shared it again to remind us that even when progress seems frozen and impossible, there is hope, especially if we work toward it.
Wonderful! What a fantastic idea for point of view. Here's a bit I love that shows off Crow's feistiness:
"but there's naught I would change
of the flights I risked,
the songs I revealed
that landed me here. "
Still as timely and timeless as when I shared it. I'm honored anew to have inspired such a wonderful poem. You are talented. I see even more to resonate with, reading it again.
I hope that "our colors flame again," and that the "wand bearer's power is snapped."
I see the present in your poem, perhaps because the present is too surreal to be the present. If we could wake up as the stone statue has, perhaps we would see more. I enjoy the metaphors in this poem Tabatha, thanks!
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