Monday, July 26, 2010

The Romantic


By Mory Keita



Though she is not Cinderella or snow white,
She lives their lives and dreams in the castle,
Where she is stranded in a dungeon for life,
Till her charming prince delivers her from the wicked spell.
Then,when she wakes up from fairyland she sees no prince.

A classic fairytale she lives in her sleeps,
Awake a  modern tragedy she experiences.
She reads poetry; listen to it, like her bible.
She imagines herself in John Donne’s hands,
While he recites that poetic melody in her ears,
The wind transporting sounds of her name to the ears of
Envious sirens in Neptune, the sun sweeping her face.

She wishes she was a Byron’s or a Poe’s lover,
Or at least one they fancy in their poetic dreams,
And write about lines unheard, unwritten by men, lines such as:

    Vois-tu  mon amour  le soleil qui brille ?
   Écoutes-tu la chanson des pigeons volant ?
   Ils envient  notre bonheur, notre amour.                             

She fancies that  lady, that “mon amour”,
She wishes she could find the whirl of space- time,
She years to travel to the romantic era,
She desires to fall in love with the Victorians,
The Shakespeares and the likes of Caspar Davis Friedrich;
With her fairness she would seduce the romantics,
She would make them write poems, novels and paint,
Paintings like never before, with a passion molded in romance.
She pray that  men could rise above sexual fantasies,
She aspires to become an art, an inspiration.
Alas! her aura of romance is but pathetic fancy,
For romance, as she wishes, is but a joke to modern men.

She pities the dullness of our era, this unromantic jungle.
This epoch  without castles, dungeons and princes.
She is bored by this world without fairy, witches and happy ending.
She misses the romantics maybe because of her naiveté,
Or she had been rocked by false tales of quixotic lovers,
Or perhaps, she is simply some lunatic, a mind living in fairyland.
  
I too pity her much, much to sympathize.
Though I am not a Tennyson or Byron or a poetic heart,
Nor I am Don Quixote , Don Juan or a chivalrous prince,
I too feel lost in this materialistic universe of ladies.
We both are lost in romance like sad clowns on stages.


Brief history: i wrote this in response to another of my poem The jerk because i thought i had generalized too much.
Shared with the one stop poetry community.

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26 comments:

heavealie said...

this poem surely showed the vast knowledge that you have gained and savored in this life of yours.interesting piece at first i thought it was one of those typical teenage romance poems but this one surely different from the lot.an intelligent piece,graceful and elegant.you know life was simple some years back.its more of a jumble now and the simplicity of things has surely vanished.nicely written.keep writing.excellent blog.

Linda Bob Grifins Korbetis Hall said...

she is who she is...
beautiful poem!

Djene said...

Nice poem,I love the story in it.
Thanks for sharing

signed...bkm said...

Beautiful Mory, yes, I have met her a few times ....but I can never quite make out her face..before she escapes again...back into romance....lovely indeed...bkm

Kira Stann said...

She seems very familiar to me. A lovely poem, that reads so smoothly and is so eloquent. Thanks for sharing it!

One Stop - The Place For Poets, Writers and Artists said...

Beautiful poem... a testament to the love of poetry, as well as to notions of courtly love, which may have hit the road (it sure can seem that way to both genders). Great work! thanks

Brian Miller said...

i am a hopeful romantic...so romance is never dead...though easily lost and forgetten. nice flow through out...thanks for linking up to oneshot!

moondustwriter said...

we have lost something haven't we? A practical world replacing the romantic moon lit eve.

Thanks for this whimsical poem

Glad you shared it with One Shot Wednesday

Smiles from the Moon

Corbie said...

I loved this poem. Who isn't a hopeless romantic before they meet that special someone. I connected to this poem easily as I am
a hopeless romantic waiting for my prince. Then as your poem portrays, reality sets in and nope no prince quite yet.

Desert Rose said...

Wow Mory! o so loved that one..i felt her..She..she is all over the place..thanks for sharing! it is amazing..:_) french lines were fitting there too..BRAVO!

TALON said...

Romantics that need to meet :)

Rinkly Rimes said...

Even at the time the Romantics were being so romantic there were people living dreadful lives, in which romance was the least of their worries!

Unknown said...

Yes a very Romantic piece indeed in the true sense of the word. A great tale told exceedingly well

John (@bookdreamer) said...

Interesting, my take on this poem was it rejected the dull flatness of the real world when not suffused with imagination and myth. One of the reason why the Romantics were repelled by Enlightenment Rationalism.I do poetry for fun rather than publication so for this week only, I’ve nervously posted an example from each of my blogs: an Elegy from Scribbles and Diversions, a Gogyohka from Random Twitter Stories, and free verse poem from Random Short Stories.

Wild Rose said...

I love the way you write and how your thoughts flow, very romantic tale here and felt like i was reading a romance novel, sweet..Thank you for sharing and for stopping by at my home. Also came via one-stop~

Wild Rose~

Anonymous said...

Wow! I love how you peppered this with so many literary references. I had to try and pick them all!

Thanks for giving my imagination a romantic tickle today! Much appreciated! :)

Jessie said...

very nice indeed!

smiles,

Claudia said...

oh - life can be an unromantic jungle and sometimes i would have use for some fairytale powder as well...smiles

Mory said...

Wow i am so impressed. i thought this was a bad poem and needed revision. thank you guys.

Joy Leftow said...

beautiful

joanna said...

Mory

This poem reflects for me the "Hero's Journey" of Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth. This is why --God created poets and gave voice to a few whom really understand. We live in an age of unprecedented expression in all of the arts, and in all aspects of personal communication. There is much to be learned from those who have come before us, the dreamers who were compelled to share their discoveries with others. Thanks Mory for sharing yours.
Joanny

Anonymous said...

:) This was so beautiful, girl..
I am sure we all feel like her at some point or the other.. I sure do!! And then my hubby says, 'come back to reality, girl'... Then I look at his face, his eyes, and I say to myself, romance is where you want it to be.. if you see it with romantic eyes, it will be romantic to you.. but if you don't, it will be the dullest thing ever! I have found my dream world in my real world.. at least I try to make them both coexist :)

I really enjoyed reading your poem.. it made me appreciate all that's around me even more!!
Thank you for sharing such a lovely piece...

Helena said...

For one so young, you've an astounding way with words, Mory!

Jhpoetry said...

~~~Simply Beautiful~~~ Allow her to capture her fantasies,dream... They may be her all...

Marshy said...

a great romantic poem that was a tremendous share with One Shot..been away for a week so catching up..cheers Pete

Stan Ski said...

Good stuff - more like it please.

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