The Calm

….the eye's center...

The Calm

 

 

Evermore, the Raven,

sat quietly on the old Oak

down by Willow Creek,

he rocked back and forth

allowing an end of Summer breeze

ruffle his feathers.

It was an early morning

sitting on the deck

and drinking coffee;

another dawn rising on a new day,

reminding me, yet again,

how much I enjoy watching the sun rise.

 

Evermore, from Poe’s ‘The Raven’,

a name I thought quite appropriate,

perched longer than usual today.

His screeched cawing was

louder,

more urgent,

and gave warning of a coming storm,

as off in the distance,

dark, brooding clouds began to form.

As they grew more ominous,

blocking out the sun,

Evermore spoke in the old tongue:

“time to gather strength,

not just to survive,

but to do all things possible

to defeat what is coming,

as well as what has already been done.

I hear the grass crying,

smell the trees dying,

the rivers drying;

I see the flames

scorching the earth

leaving death and ashes in return;

I feel the connection between

and continuity of all things

broken,

lost,

with a sense of no hope.”

 

With these words, Evermore

spread his wings

and flew away,

leaving me to ponder

why he spoke to me,

(I’m just a poet),

and to wonder

what have we done,

and is it too late?

 

It’s ironic actually.

The sky is blue, clear,

one of those days that could

find itself sitting in Autumn,

or Spring,

and all I could think was

W.B. Yeats’ poem, ‘The Second Coming’;

except this would be the Sixth.

 

It’s the calm

before the storm.

 

Aztec Warrior/redzone 9.18.19

 

*NOTE: W. B. Yeats’ poem ‘The Second Coming” was written

In 1919, shortly after WWI. Its portent well suited for what was to come then, and also, well suited for today. Though today, the stakes for humanity is much higher. I recommend reading his poem.

Author's Note

....thanks for reading...

Reviews

[barleygirl]

This posting contains a TON of good stuff! One must take some time to thoroughly peruse everything you offer up in harmony. I love how your poem starts out with the mundane morning scene & your swirling ravens remind me of a poem & video clip by Bad Bunny (Rob Trakofler) recently -- they're getting literal swarms of crows in Pittsburgh lately, maybe it's a regional storm! Anyhow, I love the tie-in for the other poetry & most of all I love how you ease into a rant which slowly revs up & up! I love the questioning feeling of your rant (rather than preachy) . . . there is definitely a coming storm & the creatures probably understand it much better than we know-it-all humans who think we pull all the strings (we're pulling some wrong ones, that's for sure!) Glad to find something from you in my reading list, since I haven't seen you in my newsfeed lately! (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[redzone]

Margie, your words and reviews always lift me, so thank you muchly... you know when I lived in Philly, where I lived was a block that had lots of trees on it and I remember well that one fall, crows would come to roost at night, making a racket unil they finally settled down... now we're talking literally many hundreds on most of the trees in the block.... there was even an article in the newspaper, burried in the back pages that suggested it was due to global warming and it has "confused" the crows and their normal behavior.... to be honest I haven't thought about this until I read your comment...

anyway, thanks again for reading and sharing your thoughts.... loves ya Margie....

[Einstein Noodle]

wow! deeply moving .. sentiments i share ..have shared for decades as the raven's omen has been long speaking says i ... i try to warn my children and they just think i'm old .. a fearful conspiracy practitioner or something .. but i love 'em ... and will take every opportunity to try and point things out to them .. freedom and independence are insipidly eroded before our very eyes says i! :( this read is so worthwhile ..and the flow and language so smooth and involving ... like holding a well dung note ..with ease and perfection ... i love this poem ... love the connections it makes with masters who have passed on .. echoing an important voice ... really glad i did not miss this Red! thanks for sharing .. not a hint to change a thing as i read ..
E.

[redzone]

thank you E., and yes, teach your children, they are being trained to forget what we learned and fought for in our youth and continue today... freedom is the recognition and acting on necessity... and today there is great and urgent necessity to change the direction that society is taking...

and E. I am glad you read and added your voice as well to this poem...

[Einstein Noodle]

:) ...................

[S.zaynab.kamoonpury]

A ponderable poem muse as it spins around poe's raven but with its own original take and content. Awesome stylish poem indeed. The grass crying rivers drying added fine rhyming to it. Kudos for a unique poem.

[redzone]

thanks S. zaynab, for your visit, your comment and for your presence in this poem...

[Sami Khalil]

Very prophetic Redzone with ominous consequences for humanity. The bird is delivering a message to the forewarned, to take heed, to be heed, to see the clouds on the horizon after the calm. It gave me chills. Things can happen in the blink of an eye. Life is short and fragile. Man's heart is waxing cold. An excellent write Redzone.

[redzone]

thank you Sami, coming from a poet like you, it means a lot to read your thoughts...

[Sami Khalil]

Humbly honored. You are welcome Redzone.

[Pryde Foltz]

It was an early morning

sitting on the deck

and drinking coffee;

another dawn rising on a new day,

reminding me, yet again,

how much I enjoy watching the sun rise.

I suppose if we could find more enjoyment in the little things, we could find those moments that stretch into an eternity and we would understand the treasure there is in living and not just accumulating. We should teach our children and our politician all this. The maybe they all wouldn't feel the need to be eternally at war. Great write, Curt. There is a lot here:)

[redzone]

I do like immensely sitting on the back porch drinking morning coffee... it is often quiet and quite enlightening... I think Pryde it is going to be up to us non politicians who need to and will make these needed changes....

[redzone]

sorry, really meant to also say thank you for your thoughtful comment, good to see you walking through one of my poems....

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Yeats' poem was written the year my dad was born....
i think the raven was speaking to you because you are a poet.
we are warned and then warn others with our words...
we understand the storms deeply....and we write until the clearing....maybe our connection as poets is the hopelessness we see in today's storm of a world...but our sense of belonging and togetherness as writers may just give us the hope we need...
j.

[redzone]

we do have that responsibility as poets. don't we Jacob..... my dad was born 4 years later... while some irreversible damage has already been done, I do think we can save ourselves from extinction, if IF we act soon.... there in lies both our hope and hopelessness.....

thanks Jacob, your insights are welcomed and appreciated...

[Lydia Shutter]

I liked naming the raven who comes to visit on the porch "Evermore"....very appropriate. Great personification of not only Evermore, but of the day itself. What have we done indeed....and can it be undone? With all the talk from politicians of saving the planet, it seems nothing is actually accomplished. As always, Curt, your poetry is far more than "nice" and gives us lots to think about. Lydi**

[redzone]

thanks Lydi, you leave such "nice", thoughtful comments... you know I almost named the raven "Nevermore", which at the time I thought more appropriate to the poem and then decided against it cause it seemed so final, rather than something that is continuing but can be changed...

I am glad you liked the poem Lydi