Poetry Forum

There’s a green lush knoll
that’s filled with wildflowers
the fragrance overpowering
with the sweetness, the flora,
and the smells of the sea -
for nearby are the coastal cliffs.

There sits the monolith
the black onyx stone
that speaks no words
but has said more
than the time it has
withstood - alone.

Travelers come to
gaze at the great rock
pagans come to say
their rituals
while shepherd dogs
just pee on it.

Some say it’s a door
to the underworld
or an ‘in-between’ place
some say it was put
their by gods or
a strange alien race.

But there is a little
flower that knows
from whence it came
she was the Queen of
the knoll and beauty waiting
then she saw what’s in
man’s heart and the Lie
fell great from the sky
and it was the black monolith.

Her trembling heart
shook but firm she held
and by the monolith
she was felled
you’ll see her there
to this day under him
she was a wildflower
now she’s the
crushed dandelion
neath the corner
of the black stone
her face wilted
the tear forever froze.

Just like the stone
that lives eternally
she is the weed
that supernaturally
will never die
people see her there
and wonder why.

©1/8/09

i've just read it the once and like it.
i like the way the dandelion is used to symbolize something more than it is.

enjoyed the lines;

while shepherd dogs
just pee on it.

the poem works on more a just a nature trail level.
for me the duality of man comes into play, male, female, good, bad, creative, literal. here the two opposites are represented by the wildflower and the block.

thanks for the read Bianca

thanks for your encouragement and input. the dogs peeing on the block is one of my favorite lines too! the great theme I wanted to emphasize too is the loss of innocense brought about by lies that we all must endure in this life.

I really loved the nature imagery here. Spotted a spelling error (fourth stanza "put there by gods"), but nothing a quit edit won't solve.

Interesting that you compared the monolith to deception, and an enduring one at that since you described all the false faiths that were swirling around the stone. Is false faith another form of hubris that can crush innocence? Just wondering if you meant it that way too

yes indeed addy, false faith can crush innocense, it is meant that way, but I'm thinking more of the heart in love with people the lady (wildflower) who always sees the good in everyone then one day a man breaks her heart who was a great liar. It is mostly lies that take the innocense, and by beholding she became changed from the wildflower into the dandelion, she is beautiful still but now a weed - the lies corrupted her soul. Thanks for the spelling /grammar error I didn't see it before and I will correct it in my original.

lol, i only just realized your avatar is a dandelion

Yes, billy mentioned the duality of man, but the image of the unyielding masculine versus the soft feminine is definitely the strongest in this poem.