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Click hereI love your heart more than I love your crown.
~Hans Christian Anderson
I came to the window,
the branch closest to it,
and he watched me.
The old man watched me,
sitting in the tatters of his skin,
brittle as a dying branch,
pale and parched.
His lusterless eyes watched me.
All these riches are nothing,
brocades woven in shining threads,
brilliant gold, turquoise lapped
against ivory silk.
All these riches are nothing
to the dust of a man,
to an arid ruler fading
into twilight’s expanse,
shrinking on a velvet throne.
I sang for him.
He was so still, my heart
moved in my breast,
my sharp eyes moist.
I sang for him,
crept closer, fluttering,
offering small lilting notes.
I sang to him~
Live a little longer,
old man, live
a little longer.
Even in the cage,
I sang. I tried to love
the jeweled perch for him.
I sang. I tried for him,
but I was dying.
I am no creature built of tin,
covered with rubies, sapphires.
I cannot match a ticking beat,
a calculated chirp.
When evening shadowed
through my cage and laced
against my wings, I could not match
the brilliance of their emerald eyes.
He watched me.
and said,
Nightingale, live
a little longer.
He fumbled at the cage,
and I am free.
I listen to the forest
sing to me. I sing
to the night, the sky.
and understand more your poetry makes sense and this is BRILLIANT, I don't know what else to say
This poem was mentioned in the Archival Review thread, in a picking through Lit's archive of over 36,500 poems.
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This poem was mentioned in the Archival Review thread, in a picking through Lit's archive of over 36,500 poems.
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this one brought tears to my eyes and made me think of my grandfather
The structure and wording in is fantastic:
Double use of "branch" as contrast,
Triple use of "eyes" in different contexts
therm does not go high enough
Lovely, with a certain sadness. It truly inspires me to writing something on this level.
I guess you are in a fairytale phase. The tin soldier is technically good, but this one has it all, great empathy as well as description! Thank you.
My thermometer freezes at 50 degrees.