wait for the solstice.
Pour China black tea on the mulberry vine,
and the fruit that it gives
will draw the desired fingertips to your skin.
Bear this person's child
whether they be woman or man.
Bear their love by making a ladle of your flesh.
Bear the pain if you can.
July will bring the straw grass
and the warmed, full-spread wing.
Steal away--save what you can from the Locust Month;
and never look back when the bird that you've loved to hear sing
makes its nest in the mouth of the cat.
________
"Bear their love by making a ladle of your flesh.
ReplyDeleteBear the pain if you can." ... Ouch.
"and never look back when the bird that you've loved to hear sing
makes its nest in the mouth of the cat" ... Ouch X 10.
Those last two lines are doozies...
ReplyDeleteYep, I was going to comment on the last two lines, but rosemary mint beat me to it. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI can see a few ways of looking at this, I'm taking it one way, because of the place my head is in, but any way you take it, you have absolutely nailed love, in the persona of the narrator, to the cross here, and of course, she must 'be prepared to bleed,' as the song says. But holy wine doesn't come cheap.
ReplyDeleterich. Shay. developing. confident. Voice. Like an oracle, a spell, a dream. Too Good.
ReplyDeleteShay
Wishing YOU a sweet week
with Aloha, from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral
<(-'.'-)>
Almost like a quasi religious view of birth to spiritual life to "sainthood" and the ultimate suffering for it all! But there are always the seasons and the natural instincts that bring these things to pass too! A beautiful piece!
ReplyDeleteLove this:
ReplyDeletePour China black tea on the mulberry vine,
and the fruit that it gives
will draw the desired fingertips to your skin.
This one doesn't sound scary, but it really is. It's about preparation for pain...
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that July is referred to as the locust month. Reading this poem, I get the sense that something is on the verge of change, something fundamental, and potentially destructive.
ReplyDeleteThis was an intriguing poem full of fascinating images. I sense the foreboding, the sense of ominous imminent threats...but cant exactly put a finger on it.thought-provoking.
ReplyDeleteintriguing and involving ... me like!
ReplyDeleteEvery line of this is incredible. Really incredible. Tears in my eyes fucking incredible.
ReplyDeleteYes. What Mama Zen says. F-ing incredible. Amazing.
ReplyDeleteWow, those last two lines were quite a jolt! Love the images in this poem, it carried me away to a magical place with just a hint of darkness (just the way I like it!)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mary. The last two lines were definitely were grabbers.
ReplyDeletePat
Critter Alley
"Bear their love by making a ladle of your flesh.
ReplyDeleteBear the pain if you can."
Beautiful, exquisite, and dangerous.
"By the pricking of my thumbs..." yikes this gave me an anxious and foreboding feeling. Great write Girly Q...I loved it.
ReplyDeleteYes, last two lines especially strong but terribly painful to actually experience. You've scoped it out amazingly well. Really well done. k.
ReplyDeleteIt reads almost like a proverb, but there is more than some spare chestnut here--there is both warning and wistfulness. It is tight, and spartan in the best sense of the word.
ReplyDelete"never look back when the bird that you've loved to hear sing
ReplyDeletemakes its nest in the mouth of the cat."
If there's anyone who can pen a poetic image more potent than you, I haven't found em. Whoo-ee!
Bear their love by making a ladle of your flesh.
ReplyDeleteVery kewl line
oh shay... this landed in me like a stone. sinking down to the very bottom.
ReplyDeletethis i will keep.
Couldn't make out the full meaning..it is really intriguing..the third stanza is still in my mind....
ReplyDeleteBear the pain if you can. The line is a perfect challenge to the reader of this romantic-tragic poem. I could hardly bear the beauty of it, Shay.
ReplyDeleteOuch and wow...and wow and ouch.
ReplyDeleteyou made me cry with the ending!
ReplyDelete{meanie!}
{well, i have to say something to try to take attention away from the fact that this is yet ANOTHER amazing poem!}
♥