Saturday, June 7, 2014

Inkpen Poetry Day: "A Goodly Warning"

//Source//

"A Goodly Warning"
 by Rachel Heffington

O! Time is a faerie-maid, dark is her dairy laid:
Larders of mem'ry and amethyst lore.
But one kiss from her lips
On your lips as she slips
One cold hand in your pocket will finish the chore.

For her kiss it is sweet
It is death, it is meat
It is sharp as a bone-frost and light as a wheat
In her bed, poppy-reds
glimmer bright as she shreds
All your best years of life into raggedy threads.

O! She picks every purse with a laugh and a curse
but a beggar she stays till the end of no end.
For her girtle is trim
From the breast to the hem;
She must ever stay hungry to eat what you lend.

Never thanks, never smile,
Such small coinage is vile
In pay for the life-years snipped off of a man.
But a kiss for the road
- Age and Slumber your load -
And a red-lipped farewell where your trouble began.

O! Time is a faerie-maid, dark is her dairy laid:
Larders of mem'ry and amethyst lore
But one kiss from her lips
On your lips as she slips
One cold hand in your pocket will finish the chore.


5 comments:

Jenny Freitag said...

I want to say "You wrote this?" because it is fantastic, but then saying something bone-headed like that always makes it sounds like I expected less from you.

The cadence is beautiful, the imagery superb - halfway through the second stanza I was thinking, "Gosh, wouldn't Chesterton like this? I've only ever caught such cadence from him."

I adore poetry and I'm never much good at it save through imitation, so now I hate you and I love this. It's splendid. XD

Emily Chapman said...

And I just second everything Jenny said. ^.^

Rachel Heffington said...

I have turned my toes inward and my face is pink. Chesterton? Too generous. But I am glad you approve, Jenny. And Emily, thank you!

Anonymous said...

Oh, wow. Utterly beautiful!

Chloe M. Kookogey said...

Beautifully haunting poetry, Rachel. I was wondering how the cadence could sound so familiar, and then Jenny mentioned Chesterton and I went "Oh." This poem is quite Chestertonian. He's one of my favorites, but I did not know him as I know you, so this has a fresh familiarity about it. Chesterton and Heffington wrapped up in one. ^.^