Metamorphosis

To Christ our Lord

Where are you, little fluttering Beauty?
Flashing bright-deep against the sky, you catch my eye
in smiling, incredible glory.
Oh, fragility! Master the wind in your buoyancy,
weightlessly wing o’er the concrete – sing! Colorfully bring
our dim inspirations to potency.
Speak, silent Monarch, whisper of your resurrection:
lifelessly latent, ignored, though ice-season you prospered, endured
to spring, spring with joy toward the glistening sun, O salvation!

Author's Note

Inspired by the work of Gerard Manley Hopkins.

Reviews

[Rick Puetter]

Hi Emily,

"Windhover" was one of my very favorite poems in high school, and Hopkins is well known for being tremendously devout. So is this about "Christ Our Lord", with imagery as in "Windhover", or is this about someone else in your life. Sometimes I think you have a tendency to be a bit too obscure. It's nice to have the benefit of "There are actually more double meanings here than most people see. Think Hopkins!", but don't you think the reader should not need to depend on that? I would expand the poem somewhat to give a glimpse of your alternative meaning. You don't have to give it away completely, but the reader needs something to sink their teeth into. Otherwise the tremendous work you've put into the poem--and this is wonderfully crafted--will not benefit from the full intent and meaning of the poem.

I don't know if I'm off the mark here, but I'll see what you have to say. We have such nice conversations on such things! This is already going to get a high rating from me.

Best regards always,

Rick

[Gandré]

WHAT YOU HAVE WRITTEN HERE IS BRLILLIANCE of compressed images of absolute ordinariness and unpretentiousness that's a challenge, to bring these images down untill they are so intense that they can
be remembered as line images. Favorite 5 stars.

[Emily Elizabeth]

This is gorgeous! My favorite of your poems! I loved the picture too. So sad.
This is really really beautiful, sweet and yet sublime. This is absolutely lovely and I think it sums up the plight of butterflies perfectly. Thanks so much for sharing!

[Liam]

That was brilliant. Seriously, I love that poem. Extremely well done, I think you should enter it in some competitions.

[Mpotavin]

Not Kafka? I hear metamorphosis, and I always think Kafka. You don't really spend much time dealing with the metamorphosis, but most of your effort goes into describing the butterfly. Titling this, "Ode to a Monarch Butterfly", might work better, as it is more indicative of the content. Don't really have much else to say as I am not a fan of Victorian era odes. The language is just too snobby for my taste.