Chrysalis
By Noel De Vries
A quiet body perches on the thorn,
Submitted to an arduous repose.
As gentle winds embrace its bulging form,
The larva's rigid crown is broken, torn
Until antennae sever and expose
A quiet body, perching on the thorn.
Convulsions burst upon the splintered horn,
Relent as outer separation slows,
And gentle winds embrace an empty form
Below a second figure, newly born.
Though cloven from itself, inside there grows
A quiet body, perching on the thorn,
Awaiting dawn, when golden light will warm
The tree. That morning comes! Beside a rose-
As gentle winds embrace its spreading form-
.
A Monarch flutters, jubilantly shorn
Of former skin and perishable clothes.
Its quiet body perches on a thorn
While gentle winds embrace the rippling form.
.
.
I wrote that when I was eighteen, and just came across it again today. The villanelle is a killer form, made famous by Dylan Thomas' Do not go gentle into that good night. Much worse than the terza rima bit I wrote while studying Dante. That was a good poem. I'll have to dig it up, too.
1 comment:
Beautiful, Lady N.
I love that Dylan Thomas poem. One of the ones you don't forget. "rage, rage, against the dying of the light..."
Reading poems with my girls every day."The friendly cow all red and white, I love with all my heart, she gives me cream with all her might, to eat with apple tart..."
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