Saturday, July 09, 2016

Shalott Reprise

(putting words in the mouth of Tennyson's Lady of Shalott)

I lived too much in shadows, the warp and weft of time
I have watched through the castle mirror, and hid my heart in rhyme,
I have walked in other’s rhythms, and never seen the crime.

I have yearned another kingdom but never bowed my head
To shoulder life’s deep burden and speak life to the dead
And I embroidered daisies, when the hungry should be fed.

I have yearned another country but have not blessed my own,
And the years went to the locusts, and my heart went to a stone
But sometimes it grows weary to always be alone.

I have hungered other mornings, be-mirrored in my dreams,
Have clenched with silent violence and schemed a thousand schemes
But never crossed the threshold, or left what only seems.

But now I have beheld him, Beloved of my soul!
The least of all his beauties betrays I am not whole.
One glance, one fatal moment, and all my peace he stole.

And I? I will have done now with vague dreams of desire.
My breath is changed to dust now, my veins scream out with fire.
Twixt one death and another, to life I will aspire!

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