' ' ' ' Centaur(For Brian) Poem by Dónall Dempsey
' ' ' ' Centaur(For Brian)
Hiding in the hay
me a terrified little boy
& my uncle like a terrified little boy
the voices in his head
telling him to be afraid
of all strangers...changes.
He’s been like this
since the day his Dad(my unknown grandfather)
died.
My Aunt’s voice
searching for us...searching us out.
Her shouts like bloodhounds
hunting us down
her words angry & cruel.
Her angry voice
slurring us into:
“DonallSeanie! ”
as if we had fused into one being
a metamorphosis of us.
The hay cooks us
and we swelter in our hidey hole
A chicken sits on top
of my uncle’s cap
as if his mind had
materialised into this shape.
He rocks himself
and rocks me.
“Shhhh...boy...shhhh! ”
comforting both him & me.
“Don’t leave me! ”
he clucks
the words scattered around him
like newly laid eggs.
I settle into his silence.
My Aunt’s threats
freezing us
in this terrible heat.
His chest hair
tickles my nose.
The cut on my left big toe
throbs through the open sandal.
My uncle cries in fear.
I wipe away the tear
with the dirty edge of my sleeve.
We escape to
the West field
me riding his shoulders
transformed into
a legendary creature
that only exists
in myths
fleeing from the realness
...of reality.
I love you as a poet but you're gift as a storyteller is just as potent. Your ability to evoke the past and conjur it up for us so that we live it second by second with you is wonderful to behold. And this is so touching...when you wipe away your uncle's tear and fear with a dirty sleeve...my heart sobbed. I love the fleeing from the realness of reality and how you become the mythical legendary centaur. so beautifull and so sad...I find myself saying always the same words...sad and beautiful... beautiful and sad...I'm running out of combinations to put them in. As always this is a love poem and it overwhelms the heart of the reader with the intensity of the love in your heart. a beautiful poem GinaXXX
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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5/7/2024 1:30:44 AM # 1.0.0.1119
Oh this is so...touching. It's such a lovely love poem...for an uncle! Your awareness of his fears and of yours and the retreat from strangers and becoming a legend in your own holiday roaming through the fields on his shoulders as if you had merged into one and become that Greek mythical creature...I can see it all so clearly through the lens of your words. It's such a beautiful tale. And when you wipe that tear away...! After the heartbreak of the baby poem I thought I'd be safe with this one...but this 'one' made me cry just as much. The beauty of it has made me sad...this world of yours. Dee Dee