The Inconstant Drake*

The Inconstant Drake

 

The Seventh Rhyme of Jean Ami

 

-P-

 

For Every Good Christian Fellow,

 Be He Noble Lord or Vulgar Serf,

Must Be Diligent in His Fealty

To the Kingdom of Heaven

 

Truly, a Man’s Distractions

Limit His Usefulness to God,

And Make Him More Vulnerable

To the Sudden Calamities of Earth.

 

---

 

A noble drake, perched on a lambent stone

That rose above the shallows of a kill,

 

Seemed as if waiting on a destined thing

That would his faith in feathered grace fulfill

 

Resolved, he stood 

And did not venture forth

 

From his position 

In the flow of chance,

 

Wherein some fly,

While others charge

And fall into the throes

Of sudden circumstance

 

Three days he made 

No foolish use of voice

 

And diligently 

Kept a vigil there,

As if he were a knight

Who kept a vow

In courtly love

 

To win a lady fair

 

-PART II-

 

Upon another stone, a turtle sunned,

 

With neck outstretched

Beyond what might be wise; 

 

And he was joined by others

That emerged and showed

Their tender throats,

And glazing eyes

 

The drake

Paid no regard

To them at all,

 

But focused on the thing

That yet would be,

 

For he, in purest faith,

Was girded well

 

And proudly stood

Like some great verity

 

-PART III-

 

His lady came as if an eager bride,

But kept a prudent distance for a while

Until she was assured of fate’s consent

To give the billed approval of her smile

 

They nestled tenderly

Throughout the day,

 

For love 

To quiet times

Will gravitate,

 

Until the drake

Broke off to have a swim

Without regard to her

Or his own fate

 

-PART IV-

 

Then from the depths,

A monster darted out

 

And seized the drake’s

Webbed foot and took him down,

With swirling golden waves of sudden death

Embroidering the scene where he was drowned.[1]

  

Thoughts of Camille Du Monde: Entry Nine

 

           (The World Is Regularly Indifferent to Our Ambitions)

 

Ami reminds us that the near achievement of a desired outcome does not provide leeway to exult in what is yet only an intention. Indeed, we are especially vulnerable to failure when we presume success and the approval of others because vanity is the arch-enemy of achievement. We are misled by hope, and mistakenly believe that the world is of one mind and one spirit with us in anticipating our triumph. We forget that others do not care too much whether we succeed or fail, given that, to them, we are merely details of what they experience. Our achievements matter to them only when they love us or believe that our outcomes may have some bearing on what they themselves hope to accomplish. This is not to say that we should fear malicious forces, but that we should bear in mind that others have ambitions that are regularly indifferent to, and occasionally in conflict with our own.

 

-P-

 

Judging Animals & Men

 

(We Hold the Behavior of Animals to a High Standard)

 

But I do not rightly understand why this admirable bird should endure such dire consequences for his error. He seems to have been devoted to a heavenly cause, and he kept a goodly faith in his expectation of God’s grace. He followed every rule he knew to follow but fell victim to the foolishness of supposing that life's conditions are ever more than momentary. Yet, this poor drake is nothing like the starling in Ami’s Fourth Rhyme. For the lagger died by an undisciplined exercise of need, the drake because of a momentary whim. Such fables give a clearer meaning to a lesson than a story that speaks of men. For we are disposed to allow a man more leeway to decide wrongly, as his thoughts are layered and more complicated than that of a duck. We are guarded in our judgment of a man because we are, in a sense, judging ourselves. In this way, we hold animals to a much higher standard and make them subject to a greater punishment than our brothers when they fail.