The forge blows a searing heat,
The blacksmith drums a solemn beat,
Upon his work and in his room.
The flat of metal, fashioned ere,
Glowing white and angry red,
Each hammer strike,
Nearing done.
The blacksmith pauses, seeing blood,
Slick and thick upon the steel,
Running deep, running far.
A curse, a pox, a mighty dread.
Eyes wide and breath so quick,
The blacksmith looks to the back,
Where family lies, deep asleep,
Innocent of all but: dependence.
Raising solid arm again,
The hammer deals out the truth,
Careless of the guilty tears,
Careless of the helpless rage.
A blade is fashioned, doused and drawn,
Ready for its deadly song,
The metal forger scrubs sad eyes,
And draws one more blank, with a sigh.
© 2012 Clifton Hill, all rights reserved.
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Perhaps a vision of Perrin Aybara, of The Wheel of Time, was stoutly entrenched in my mind when this vision came forth. The blacksmith—big and strong, gruff and silent—always working alone on their craft. Sometimes forming tools, sometimes pots, and sometimes implements of death. What would a peaceful man do?
What do we all do?
There lies the query.
Hey Clifton, I liked that. And I don't normally like poetry. Well done and very polished.
ReplyDeleteWould someone pay you for it? Don't know unless you submit it. Check out Duotrope for potential markets and submit away.
Keep in mind though, once published on your blog, ezines may consider that already published.
Thanks, that is high praise. Yeah, I'm aware of the risk, but tired of all of my work remaining under wraps. The novels are mostly a necessity, but the short stuff is mostly for education/fun. If I were to start getting paid for that it would be awesome. Perhaps if I get a larger cache of that kind of work I might look more seriously into publish, rather than on a maybe-we'll-see-if-I-get-around-to-it-or-not kind of basis.
ReplyDeleteI love this style of poem. This was very well done. I got a very definite image in my mind. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteGreat! Glad to hear that it connects with people and not just me. Though, if I amuse myself, I am usually quite happy. ;-)
DeleteMore are coming of various styles/subject matter, so I'd love to hear how those work for you as well.