Tag Archives: Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Prosery: All is Fair in Love

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Dante Gabriel Rossetti, “Two Lovers,”(1850)  Pen and Ink with brown wash on paper
 

All is Fair in Love

Paul and I saw the pink rose painted on a wall. I remember the slow grin that lit up his tired face, just starting to look gaunt, as we all were.

“It’s you,” he said, “Beauty-with-thorns.”

Now as I’m searching for Paul, that rose has reappeared. It can’t be a coincidence. I feel like I’m being led with breadcrumbs, and I know the path may lead to a beast, not a prince. Yet, even with the risks, I can’t stop.

Is love or war fair? Who were you, Paul? Was it all a game? Every year I think, this year’s a different thing. I’ll not think of you with longing—or regret. But how do I banish a past so full of questions? How do I banish thoughts of you without some answers–?

A twig snaps. Is that young backpacker following me?

I’m hosting Prosery on dVerse today with the prompt line:

“This year’s a different thing, –
I’ll not think of you.”
–from Charlotte Mew’s “I so liked spring.”

I’ve continued my spy story with a sort-of-love-themed post for Valentine’s. The previous episode ended with the pink rose.

While I was writing, I thought of this Stevie Wonder song.

Onward

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Onward (there’s more to be said on apples)

Circles, not so remarkable,
connect, snake heads to tails,
they slither, occupy space
merge past with future,

so, we remember a face,
a talk, some music,
the sparkle of knowledge,

and the ludicrous,
suppositions that some cling to,
like ivy on a dusty wall,
warning of the dysfunction that will come

if a woman laughs or learns
there is no shame in desire—

she bites into the apple—red or gold—
spits seeds into the ground,
makes a delicious dash toward tomorrow.

A poem from the random words Jane generated today.

The Siren Calls: Yeats Challenge, Day 5 and 6

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I’ve combined Jane Dougherty’s A Month with Yeats Day 5 and Day 6 Challenges into one poem.

Day 5 Quotation:

“And like a sunset were her lips,
A stormy sunset on doomed ships;
A citron colour gloomed in her hair,”

–From The Wanderings of Oisin: Book One by W. B. Yeats.

Day 6 Quotation:

‘Suddenly I saw the cold and rook-delighting heaven’

 

Beauteous she was there,

like a sunset were her lips

and citron gleams within her hair.

She sang a song to doom the ships

and though we knew to watch for her

her voice was softly sweet, and so beguiling

and with such sweetness, lured to rocks we were

to crash there on, while she sat smiling.

But as I sank beneath the sea,

a dolphin came to rescue me

from this cold place, this watery grave,

he carried me upon his back, from there took me away

from the siren’s call and the dangerous waves

to the shores of my home country.

And this is where I now will stay

in my home upon a hilltop bright

Heaven it is to me, I say

to see the rooks caw in murderous flight,

and I delight.

And yet, sometimes from out at sea

the siren’s melody still calls to me.

Dante_Gabriel_Rossetti_-_A_Sea-Spell

Dante Gabriel Rossetti [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
 “William Michael Rossetti described the picture thus: ‘The idea is that of a Siren, or Sea-Fairy, whose lute summons a sea-bird to listen, and whose song will soon prove fatal to some fascinated mariner.’”

 

 

Penelope Waits: Magnetic Poetry

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Hero fascinated by fighting,

she, sad quiet at home,

a heart full of love.

Goddess protect him—

light night-hours,

in morning,

a gentle promise,

she has hope.

 

The Oracle seems to be bringing me women in history. Last week was Joan of Arc; and this week, Penelope (the wife of Odysseus), though I would not imagine her so passive. I’ve added punctuation.

This is for Magnetic Poetry Saturday  at Mr. Elusive Trope’s Specks and Fragments.

 

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, “Penelope,” [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

dante_gabriel_rossetti_-_penelope

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, “Penelope,” [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons