In The Time
Of Corona
One more
twist of the tuning peg
And I swear the D string
Would have snapped.
Downwind of
her
Up on the moors
Absorbing honeyed sunlight
I watched a mountain hare
Supremely unaware
That everywhere
A cruel hunter stalked
Black beast, panther or cat
Stitched in legends that
Sang of us -
Arbitrary as lightning.
In
city streets
Litter blew like
Tumbleweed
We’d
Peer from empty windows
Observing nothing,
Noting the numbers
Leaping like
Stock market figures -
The arithmetic of death
That sang of us.
A lament
Drifting over the moors
Poignant as a baby’s cry
Or a eulogy to say goodbye
Played upon a violin
Of sorrow fenced within
The orbit of our world.
Reaching the end
It is the D string
That resonates -
A single note
Hanging in the air
To scurry away
A mountain hare.
And I swear the D string
Would have snapped.
Up on the moors
Absorbing honeyed sunlight
I watched a mountain hare
Supremely unaware
That everywhere
A cruel hunter stalked
Black beast, panther or cat
Stitched in legends that
Sang of us -
Arbitrary as lightning.
Litter blew like
Tumbleweed
We’d
Peer from empty windows
Observing nothing,
Noting the numbers
Leaping like
Stock market figures -
The arithmetic of death
That sang of us.
Drifting over the moors
Poignant as a baby’s cry
Or a eulogy to say goodbye
Played upon a violin
Of sorrow fenced within
The orbit of our world.
It is the D string
That resonates -
A single note
Hanging in the air
To scurry away
A mountain hare.
Great photo of the hare and a very good poem about Corona. I often think when I am walking in the countryside next to the sea. It's a beautiful world and we humans have tried and are trying to ruin this fabulous planet.
ReplyDeleteHOMEWORK Please write a poem about one of your walks or general observation of life and Nature on The Sheep's Head Peninsula.
Delete"I don't wanna be a loner, I just want a bottle of Corona".
DeleteRemember Corona pop or "minerals" they called in Lancashire.
Yes. I do remember that...but of course there's "Corona" beer from Mexico too. Now get on with your homework laddie!
DeleteWe often see hares in the fields above our lane. It is strangely comforting to think of them continuing to survive after we have all succumbed to our cruel hunter.
ReplyDeleteAt least we don't get shot by gamekeepers on behalf of the grouse shooting fraternity.
DeleteThis is an excellent poem. I particularly like the line: "The arithmetic of death". Yes, the hare is always hunted and now we are as well as our numbers rise.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading and considering this poem Bonnie.
DeleteI really like your poem as it compares the d string with the activities of the hare.
ReplyDeleteThanks Red. There has been a tension in the air since this thing began. Taut like a violin string that is overstretched.
DeleteI love the winding of the themes, Covid, hare and guitar string.... Boudicca let a hare go before the battle, she lost, like we all do when we enter the playground of life.
ReplyDeleteThe Boudicca reference was of course deliberate Thelma...only kidding, your point adds another nice ingredient to the mixture.
DeleteYesterday, on reading your poem the first time round, I ran to the Angel to ask him about the significance of specifically the D-string. Your striking use of this image resonates(!) with me - not least because a few highly strung people have touched my life.
ReplyDeleteWith a nod to Meike: A poem needs to be read, re-read and again, in intervals. A poem demands time, can't be rushed, needs full input from the reader. I'd go as far as saying that reading poetry/lyrics resembles meditation in that you are in the NOW. Full attention to the exclusion of all distraction.
Another aspect that moves me about poetry and lyrics, regardless of the subject matter and whether it resonates with me or not, that it gives such an intimate glimpse of the person writing it, laying themselves wide open.
The hare is dark, YP, as is your subject. The hare got away, this time. On which high note you ended.
U
Thanks for giving my poem such thoughtful consideration Ursula. There are of course only four strings on a violin and "D" is the first letter of "Death" - that was partly in my thinking when I picked "D" before "E", "A" and "G".
DeleteLament and haunting regret is what this evokes for me. Thank you. I’m in Australia and have just been a to Craig Reucassel’s “The Fight for Planet A”, and the sadness of a man known
ReplyDeleteof a man known here as the father of coral (over a lifetime he has named 20 or 30% of the world’s corals).
For me, your poem tunes into a similar feeling.
Sorry, that was meant to read “I have just been viewing Craig Reucassel ‘s ...
ReplyDelete