Friday, January 9, 2015

Long After Ulysseus




 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Goats were left on an island

by the conquistadors

shining in  argent splendor

with other places to sail

 

The hills were harsh;  shrubs

and dry patches of grass

as the livestock grazed

on strange ground, sensing a savage wind.

 

They were used to hearing

hinged gates, heaved pails of water

or grain, a woman's skirt ripping

on the garden briar. A soldier's  boot

broadcast loudly on   deck.

 

Scimitared but scavenging,

 the  horned species seemed lost, stripped

of their wild instincts through husbandry

and time. Yet, when the mist  rolled in

 

and  revealed the  pale daughters

of the Galapagos sea,  long fingers combed

through their matted hair -- separating

the fragile from the feral,

 

casting grim into the grace

of survival. Hand maidens who untangled

their skein of storm.
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Pastel artwork is called, "Girls Combing The Beards Of Goats", by Richard Doyle.

 

 

 













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