Deciphering The Sphinx, Part II

The Sphinx At Sunset

 

The young man

guessed her ancient riddle
and she spared him
shrugging her wings
and licking the taste
of stale blood from her lips.

The cleaned ribs of a rabbit

clung to her thick hair
like white combs
and he found it hard to fathom
that a woman with such a fair face
could possess the hunger
and bottom half of a beast.

Yet, her mind

was the beautiful heart
of a heartless creature. Her worship
of lore, art and logic
rendered her ripe
for temptation.

He pulled a  string,
a silk gut  from the lining
of his coat and  told her
though it snapped
off an old cello
it still had power. It held
the vibration of something
 transcending
death and disease.

 If she could name this,

he would allow another
challenge to his brain and breath.
Tempted she stood up
and steadied herself
by gripping his  shoulders.

On the forest floor

their shadows blended
into one being, her wings
lost in the shape of willows
that hung behind. She looked
at their dark figment
on the fall ground,
and felt a closeness
she could not decipher
and began to fear

The cold wind crouched

in a field of feather grass
that softened its chill
and she heard a  lark sparrow,
not the shriek of gull or hawk

Its song pulsated

like the heart in his chest
like the sweet shock
of tenderness  in her limbs
and she wept.

The bird ceased singing
the breeze stilled
and love with its strange
syllable flared, loosening
from her tongue
like the first leaf
               of Autumn  turned.

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This second poem explores the  duality of  beauty and beast through the character of

The Sphinx.  The young man acts as a catalyst that prompts the female creature to confront her own vulnerability and dormant emotions. Having guessed her ancient riddle, his life is spared. Yet, as a musician he feels drawn to this being and is almost mesmerized by the paradox of her form. Her face and hair are humanly beautiful but her primal hunger and  lower body belong to  the savage world. Somehow, he sees past this and concentrates on what makes  her even more intriguing, her mind. Her ability to adore/ worship something lies in the essence of knowledge. And because knowledge  evokes passion  from her, it  also makes her susceptible to temptation   revealing her feminine side, her need to receive and accept this strange thing called love.