Originally published April 8, 2019...
Today’s post leads us into entirely new territory. The main character matures, if only slowly; however, at least the vocabulary used indicates a growing intelligence and awareness, and the budding of an independent being is observable. In this Song, the epic enters a full and accessible narrative – a story that begs to be read. More characters appear, and the scenes and events – even dialogue – become robust. A lot happens in this Song, including the beginning of the young person’s breakaway from hearth and home. Please be prepared that with all this going on, the Songs generally present longer from here on; for example, this “Song 4” is over 11,000 words, five times longer than any Song before it. We’ll be breaking that chunk down into five sequential segments, except for one guest-poet post at about the middle of the five segments for a respite.
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Today I wake and know that time has come
Something out there and I must see its face
beneath the chilled floor of this living place
stretched deep, narrowing to a blunt-end point
sunken cellar, hollowed out muddy earth
As a child, I feared this earth-tapered vault
and would not go down without someone else
with trap door open to let in the light
trembling all the while until I emerged
Today, I must go in to bring it out
some dark matter waits there for me, I’m sure
some red and black force that will not surface
cannot reveal itself by law or choice
So, I must go in to harrow it out
must dive in headfirst, submerge completely
not dally scraping dirt along the edge
pull the door closed behind me, blocked by thin
wedge to be my latchkey when I ascend
I rush to the cellar straight from my bed
long before all others wake to the day
and see what I’m doing – try to stop me
from going where I must go – now – today
The heavy slant door smells moist and mildewed
as I slide the bolt back and lift the boards
I breach the gloom, then jam a wooden wedge
to allow a fingerhold but no light
Inside the muffled chamber all round dark
my eyes strain for shape-shreds but none appear
my scraping feet the only outer sound
Inside, my heart pounds blood against my ears
A clear way between shelves but narrow too
I feel my way stooping toward the rear
where the shelving stops and damp earth begins
Here I sit, tuck my knees to chest – listen
My heartbeat thumping loud against my ears
Breath rustling in and out my nose hairs
I’m determined to hear the sound of what
makes this hole its home – it must be right here!
At once fear roars up my throat hard and hot
and sticks there in a choking lump swabbing
all the wetness from my mouth – afraid, I
try to quiet heart and breath to listen
I am desperate to silence all my noise
Press breath down and quiet so I can hear
I assure myself that I can leave here
when I choose – nothing stops me from going
now or later – but I want to get out
suddenly and be in the calming light
At last, I simply stay and breathe and wait
I recall and count the reasons I’m here
One – I need a place where I am alone
away from shouting, noise and endless chores
When the others find me sitting, they make
work for me as if thinking’s not allowed
as if working takes dangerous thoughts away
Two – when I ask why I must do as told
why what I am and do is not enough,
they say “forget it” or “strange question” and
I get no answers there – that’s why I’ve come
Three – I don’t fit in – everyone says so
No one asks what I like or even care
but I can’t help but ask for I must know
must surface out of endless confusion
make sense of messages thatcome in dreams
I shake myself, relax, breathe in slowly
Soon I am somewhat sure no cold corpse arms
will grab me and drag me deep under earth
Whatever lives here doesn’t want to harm me
or I would already be dead or worse
Forcing relaxation, I notice thoughts
tumbling over one another bumping
interrupting until my attention
bursts into fragments with no direction
rather blocking logic and intention
Such stupidity’s annoying and must
be tamed, so I view all this commotion
like the confusing noises of people
I’m forced to listen to, so like with them
I tune my ears and muffle to a thrum
inside, the noises quiet to a hum
As sounds fade and retreat, I listen hard
and the clatter dries up like a puddle
then a high-pitched silvery note – fiery thin –
like an airborne beacon that does not change
“What is that?” I ask listening close again
It sounds familiar like I should know it
I press my palms tight on my ears but this
makes the note louder and I am surprised
to find the sound not out there but within!
I turn fore and aft to find any change
but all directions sound back just the same
as I try standing, sitting, and lying down
The tone holds constantly one silver sound
I feel safe when listening to the silver
as if it has always been here – not just
now, but with me from before I came here
I could listen for hours to this sound core
to this long, grace-note ring, sending steady
clear, star-glazed radiance ringing down through me
I think this sound envelops what I want
to know, so I listen harder and try
to follow wherever the note goes
Now the pitch steadies deeper, dissolving
thoughts into patterns that filter the crazy
and ring truly to show me right and strong
Now rises an uncommon composition . . .
I need to know too much that is not here
Others can’t know and hide under laughter
They point at me when they cannot explain
I am different and that will not change
I sit up straight and frightened at this rush
of these things I have known but could not say
all the hints and hunches I’ve pushed away
Words tumbling out of darkness all at once
one silver resonance of certainty
every word a precious actuality
The note gathers up pieces and presses
them into hard white stones and yellow pearls
all hung glittering from unfurled white sails
I glimpse what I quake to think I cannot
do at all, and must be done all at once
This makes me dizzy and I start to sweat
Suddenly I need air – breeze on my face
I jump up from crouching and hit my head
stumbling, crashing into shelves and toppling
pots, bags tumbling, confusion in the dark
I lose my way and for a panic-stricken
moment I cannot tell the one way out
so, I feel my way along the damp walls
until I reach the taller end and touch
redeeming door where my body falls, rights
Relieved, I push but it does not open
It is stuck or blocked or something heavy
lies across it – in a panic, I push
with all my strength and one thin blink of light
an inch slips through the crack – the door crashes
a thud of darkness, my eyes still flaring
I am shut in – trapped – helpless – no one knows
A damp breath prickles cold all down my back
I am terrified, frozen, stunned, can’t move
I am dead – buried alive! – in my grave!
A whimper escapes in spite of myself
I clamp my mouth before I cry for help
I will not cry or scream and have them laugh
I will die here first and then they will find
my bones poking through my rotting flesh and . . .
“Stop it!” I warn myself out loud – me with
panicked baby voice about to burst out
loud and whining at this slightest setback
I slump down in a squat to think and fret
I could wait until I am missed – but then
who would know where to look, and I won’t shout
or shriek or yell, not even to get out
I could stay until someone else comes in
for any reason. How long will that be?
No, I must rescue myself. Yes, that’s it!
I must make a move now – figure it out
I start hurried groping in total, perfect dark
I feel poles, sticks, boards, baskets and more pots
some of which I might use to pry the door –
brace it up – make a space to slide me through
I carry a heavy stick to the door
doubling my strength, I push against the weight
enough to slide the stick in between and
persist, pace by pace, to build my path up
toward the light and when I’ve opened a gap
I carefully squeeze my whole body out –
I’m through! I stand wet, gasping, I see it –
a shape lying beside the cellar door
where someone has dropped a huge, heavy bag
of potatoes by carelessness or with
intent to hurt me, I can’t be certain
But it does not matter. I have rescued
myself, released myself, set myself free
and if I can do this, I think, then I
can leave this place – these people – someday soon
They cannot hold me here against my will
I do not know how I will leave or when
but I will Yes, I will I will
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No one asks where I have been all these hours
No one notices any change in me
They don’t see that I am already gone
packed up, no goodbyes, no tears – on the run
That night . . .
I sail toward the ones already at sea
breaking through freezing spray and shuddering waves
my diamond prow splits ice – trails jagged shards
I can hear the shanties on the shrill wind
I am coming I am coming
though my wings are pinned
I am headed home – out of nearby dark
My tribe will know me by our common mark
My bow is pointed toward my own country
white wings tacking toward pale eternity
A single journey – a voyage of One
Four thousand years of sailing the sea way
Landless gull contouring the dusky waves
simply and truly exploring toward home
I think back on shores of driftwood and stone
beaten by clear ice and salt-crusted waves
under heaving heart of white-breasted foam
and the graceful ribbed flesh of wild ocean
When I wake, sadness is wider between
who I am and that bright sailor to be
A wider gap between the steps I walk
and the others I want to leave behind.
I say little to them that is not shouts
They favor me with the same, and I just
dream and wait, and brew my future alone
by the dark-found compass I’ll always trust
Background
Discovery is the name of the maturing person’s nature. So much to explore; more to be discovered. “Separation” begins with the need to part ways, as most healthy young persons wish to do. Something more is going on here; however, and the reasons for the wish for departure are more intense and stranger than usual. A sense of destiny and of failing to be in the “right” place permeate this Song. It may be worth considering whether or not most young people do want to “separate” in the same way and for the same reasons as does our protagonist. Or is this all fantasy, and if you were to talk to the main character, would you say that the better course is to just settle down and “get real.” Herein lies one of life’s defining questions and forks in the road.
Exploration 1: Why must the main character go into the cellar? What is there? Is literary symbolism involved here?
Exploration 2: What is the conflict with the place and people where the protagonist lives? Are there familiar echoes for you?
Exploration 3: Does this Song resonate with the issues of adolescence? If so, do you know (or have you known) any person who experienced such issues?
Exploration 4: Why are some sections italicized? Is it the same reason as in prior Songs?
1. The MC goes into the cellar to confront his or her fear.
ReplyDelete2. The protagonist describes a loveless, abusive living place. Minimal to no echos for me.
3. The MC's intention to get out makes sense. I've seen people like the MC living on city streets.
4. The italicized sections seem to be memories or messages from the place the MC came from and would like to return to.