What a beautiful love poem. I was enthralled when I read it. I had no idea where it was going. It could advance to an erotic liaison, true love relationship or stay at the level of agape. It doesn't matter really. It's still a beautiful love poem. Who are these people? I'm guessing from the male's ability to walk above rather than through the wildflowers, we are talking about Orion the Titan, not Orion from Cleveland. The lady? Good gosh. Later.
The rhythm fit no clear cut form I could discern. The main accent always fell on the second or third syllable, and if I remember correctly from medical school that might be called a sprung rhythm. If not, then what? For my info.
The rhyme scheme as we know is abbc. All the a's rhyme and in fact only one line does not end in flowers. The second a. I am only a poor country doctor, but yet I may be permitted the opinion that repetition can be a weakness or a strength. In every instance that I have identified in this piece, it is a strength. It adds and adds and multiplies the strength of the lines. There is even a neurological term for this.
The beginnings of the lines show repetition. The first four stanzas start with She stood. The fifth with he walked and the last with They stood. So the focus goes from her to him and then to them. Good. But still the underlying hammering home of - something. Earthly existence on land, patience, persistence, bravely, even passionately standing one's ground?
The length of the lines vary between seven and eleven syllables. The middle lines were generally a bit shorter, never longer, than the first and last lines of each stanza. I don't know if this is poetic convention or serves to emphasize the first and last lines or both.
Now to the unavoidable of who, what, why, when and where. Or at least a couple of those.
It seems that Orion is the Hunter, the great hunter of game and women who often gets into trouble.
The woman could be Jane Doe from Cleveland, but I doubt it. What do we make of the hawk, the cloak and answers in the stars.
Most of the goddesses for whom Orion conceived a passion did not reciprocate his feelings. This would include Merope, the King's daugther. There were several other Meropes. One Merope was one of the Seven Sisters but none of them seem enamored of him and in fact flee from him eternally as the Pleides. In one of the Sisters' legends they return to earth from time to time and at one point for safety sake were turned to birds, doves I think. But one was held back. Perhaps the lost sister in this form could be made to fit the lady in the poem. It would explain the hawk, abandonment, waiting, need for seduction on Orion's part.
Another candidate might be Eos.I believe in most legends Orion was sent to the stars before meeting Eos, but who really knows? Eos is usually depicted as having wings, which explains the hawk's temporary interest. She wore a cloak decorated with wildflowers. She might have been checking the stars to make sure the Seven Sisters were in the sky where they belonged. Also, she, how might one say it delicately, had something more than a crush on Orion and might have been willing to wait for him a good while. Normally she was close to the sun, so she may have felt quite cold on earth. Yet she carried mortal men away to isolated places on earth, but probably with them safely tucked away, could go about her daily chores of opening the gates of heaven so her warm brother, Helios, the sun, could drive through. Thus, could she abate the coldness. Or perhaps being with a man warmed the coldness within her that was not of her making.
By the way I found a beautiful picture of her with wings walking among wildflowers in Wikepedia. She was not wearing her yellow cloak in that presentation.
Well, I cannot say if either of these candidates is the one the poet had in mind. There are many other myths, and I am sure many other candidates, but time is limited. I hope the poet lets me in on the secret. she tells me. It will probably be someone I never suspected. Maybe the butler.
Or Jane Doe from Cleveland.
Or perhaps the poet made use of herlicense to create a collage from a number of sources.
Or perhaps the search itself. Somewhat as in a Haiku.
For me the bottom line is that this is an expertly crafted, beautiful love poem and the rest is much less important to me. |
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