Art for Life's September to November edition continues...
These five poems were the
inspirations of a Canadian poet. Rowan Woods --- who studied at Carleton and Brock
Universities --- penned these words during 1991-92 in such locations as Ottawa &
St. John's Valley in Ontario, Canada and in Wales, Britain.
Bardic herald, consolation Mystic words of observation and sight, Infiltrate my vision with reified watery light; The verse, it chants within our heads As lovers do bounce upon their beds And give up their hours to coalescent passion --- These seekers of wisdom and their vagrant ransoms.
The Prince: He has a Machiavellian air; The one eye
is soft and invites the spirit to trust in its compassion --- The other eye watches
coldly as the snare of its counterpart unfolds --- Waiting for the acquisition of the
hearts Beating within principalities of soft, warm breasts...
The Grave-diggers Tryst: I saw the changing faces of the
dead upon my lovers brow, Cold and blue his skin sank in The hollows around his eyes,
his cheekbones, his grin, And I --- mounted --- pulled back aghast To see the haunting
faces of the past Transform his lovely face into decay --- To hover there in grimaces
and despair Framed alone by grey unruly hair that way. Courage and fear forced out my
hand to trace With failing fingers his distorted face; Thus, the countenance was soon
replaced With pleasure in his phantom eyes --- Those eyes filled with sages far too
wise For his unnatural youth; This, for certain I can not disputes It pleased them
well, These ghosts of heaven and of hell. Now far too committed by the gesture I
found myself involved in unholy nature By loving this man below me Infested with
spectres, So must I then bend down to him And breathe not deep With sweet kisses
to conquer and defeat The spirits clinging to his bones and meat; Sank my lips into
his own --- Quite unsavory and cold as stone --- I held him fast; The rotting corpse
soon did not last The lash of passion and life Between our naked breasts, Conquered
and defeated them, running from my heated test --- And I caressed him all the more
For he and I (two souls which it seems destined to collide) in flesh And desire will
not last forevermore Amongst the waves of erotic aphrodites shores...
Spirit lives in all regardless of time. Ignorance is
the belief that knowledge makes you wise. Spite is what judges another by the vice,
And envy is the evil that divides the divine from the lesser kind.
...The wind coming in sounds like the cursing, slapping
waves of the sea crashing over a cool, dark turf...
