From the file of “Things Kept” comes the first serious poem I ever wrote. In honor of April as National Poetry Month, and tonight’s Full Moon, I present…
***
In Darkness I am alone.
Wandering lost in the world of Night,
I spy a lamppost beside a garden bench.
Discontent I find in this soft white light
that recalls her magnificence.
Bright is she in the sky.
Divine, as a pearl in the Darkness,
Her smile shines down on me as a warm greeting.
Inviting is the Light of her Caress.
I abandon Man’s Light.
Trees hide her from my eyes.
Behold! She rises in the Heavens.
Above Nature’s womb, my unattainable vision.
Disturbed to flight, take three Ravens.
To her, they go; I weep.
Among them I would fly!
A path to her these Ravens have found.
Diana, hear their calls, the echoes of my Desire!
To me, Endymion, on Earth feet sound.
I embrace her at last!
***
By no means would I consider this a stellar poem. Reading it now, I think it… pretentious. And though I have changed up a couple lines, I’m not entirely satisfied.
The inspiration, of course, comes from Greek mythology and in particular the tale of Endymion. In a common version of the myth, the goddess of the moon looks down one night on a handsome Aeolian shepherd and falls in love with him. She would visit him as he slept and sought eternal youth for him.
It’s been years since I wrote “The Dreamer and the Moon”; best recollection is that I penned it sometime during my senior year of high school. Lately, though, I’ve considered the idea of penning a volume of poetry inspired by myths and dreams. Poems that would read like stories.
Perhaps this April, and NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month) will inspire me.
