It’s day 10 of Jane Dougherty’s A Month with Yeats poetry challenge and today’s quote is as follows: ‘And he saw how the reeds grew dark at the coming of the night tide’
Jane’s blog is: https://janedougherty.wordpress.com/2017/11/10/a-month-with-yeats-day-ten/
My poem today is called: THE MONSTER IN THE MAN
And was he not tied
and turned on the tide,
was there not light
and dark by his side,
though the morning’s sun
rose as his bride
it was the moon o’er his hand
at night that died.
And was he not washed
and worn on the waves,
was he not crushed
like the sea cuts the caves,
in the morning did he count up
the slaughter, the saves,
was he ashamed of how many
he’d laid in their graves.
And was he not just a reed
washed over sand,
was he not just a vessel
on the ocean unmanned,
controlled in the day;
all blood was banned
but unbound in the night
the beast took his hand.
And was he not just a man
who’d lost his sight?
Is there passion for the monster
lost in the night?
But the hunger he was bound
to before the light
was too much in the darkness
to put up a fight.
The best of a man,
a wolf of a beast
but never the two
could ever find peace,
Helios held the famine,
Selene supplied the feast
but not a single God
could offer a release.
A savage surrender
into the sea was swept,
the hair of the hound,
the soul that now wept,
a man and the monster
drowned in the depth
and in their beds, his children,
safely then slept.
And was he not tied
and turned on the tides
like the rise and fall
of a twist that divides
as the nature of man
and monster collides
but when the darkness descends,
the light it subsides.
All words and photographs by Damien B. Donnelly
Stefanie Neumann
I do not know where you took the image, but it reminds me of Dublin’s roof tops.
I see the illuminated window within the dark scenery as a great match (contrast) to the dark story told by the beautifully written poem, too.
deuxiemepeau
It was actually the view out my window last night, all my other photos are on my computer and at the moment I can’t get them into my phone due to a week of no internet, sorry to mention it again but it’s unbelievable!
Anyway the view is rather like Dublin, I agree- funny what we end up looking at in other ends of the world! Happy weekend my dear xx
Stefanie Neumann
You can mention the no-internet-trouble to me as often as you want, dear Dami. I agree, it is unbelievable and must be incredibly annoying.
Yes, it is interesting how we seem to be drawn to ceartain views, sometimes. 🙂
Hope you had a happy weekend, too! ♥
deuxiemepeau
Off to Stockholm now so leaving connections or lack of behind me for a few days!! 🤗
Stefanie Neumann
Ha så kul! – Have fun! ♥
Jane Dougherty
And when do we start to be accountable for our sins? Dark poem with dark questions.
deuxiemepeau
I wonder why the answers will be heard?
Jane Dougherty
Or if?
merrildsmith
Well-done, Damien. Dark questions, indeed.
I love the rhythm of the poem.
deuxiemepeau
Thanks Merril! Always the contrasts, always the other sides. Nothing ever black and white! Unlike customer service in France- there is no light 😳
merrildsmith
🙂
pranabaxom
Love this poem and the rhythm / rhyme. It’s dark, it has a monster and it has many questions. Do we have answers to all of them?
deuxiemepeau
I think we do but no one in charge, or who can make a difference wants to listen! Little voices!!