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Wayfarers' Tale
The Watcher and the Wanderer
and the Wayward Child
walked hand in hand across the Moor
in the midnight wild.
The moon was only a distant eye
that looked the other way.
The Moor was only a frying pan
that cooked the heather grey.
The Watcher kept her eyeless watch,
the Wanderer went astray,
the Child thought it saw another child
and ran after it to play.
Night grew long and the cats all wept,
till there was nothing left
but the empty path across the Moor
and the watch the Watcher kept.
February 2012
Posted for real toads
Prompt: Photography of TALON
Image: Photo by TALON
Used with permission.
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ReplyDeleteI love this! How did you come up with these three characters, I wonder? How ever they came to you, they work splendidly.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part is the frying pan. What an image.
I can just see these three, then two, then one, out there on the misty moor. Oops, "Moor", because that is the real character here!
PS--I really must learn to edit out the Typonese before I hit "publish".
Phew, I thought you'd put in an incantation or something. ;-) Not that that would be inappropriate.
DeleteThis is wonderful. Has a Yeatsy kind of quality. I love that the Moor is like some brooding moor in legend --I'm sorry I'm thinking Arabian/gypsy/roamer as well as you know what--Wuthering! It really has a wonderful fairy tale quality and great poignancy too. K.
ReplyDeleteHeathcliff! Thanks for the kind compliments, K.
DeletePs- though I think my favorite lines have to do with the moon turning eye other way, the blind watcher and the cats all crying. I'm allergic to cats so can't say that they bring up immediate feeling in me (except a kind of itchiness), but love the image here. (ha.) k.
ReplyDeleteSo lyrical and magical, hedgewitch. I loved it.
ReplyDelete"The Moor was only a frying pan
that cooked the heather grey." - that is fantastic. The way the light plays out is just like that under the full moon.
Stunning!!!!
ReplyDeleteI am still goose-bumpy from this! What fascinating imagery and what a story! Impressive.
ReplyDeletedef...feels a little gaiman to me honestly...at least he should do the graphic novel based on it...kinda sandman esc you know...like the moor as the frying pan...and in the end only the blind watch man watching....nice....
ReplyDeleteI love this, Hedge. The rhythm is perfect: "and the watch the Watcher kept" — I want to say "and the highwayman went riding, riding". Some words are made for rhythm, aren't they?
ReplyDeleteK
That was my favorite poem as a child--I blame it and Poe for weird ones like this. ;-)
DeleteThe frying pan is so unexpected! Wow! And, I adore the rhythm of this.
ReplyDeleteWhen your brain is fried, these analogies come easy. Thanks for reading, MZ.
DeleteWowzers! This was fantastic! I agree with Brian. I could definitely see this as a Neil Gaiman story. It sounds like one of his children's tales, which tend to be kind of spooky and creepy but have a magical kind of brilliance, just like your poem.
ReplyDeleteThis is so light and enjoyable, Joy... you and I did the same picture. = )
ReplyDeletehttp://lkharris-kolp.blogspot.com/2012/02/nightmares-lonely-cry.html
Very atmospheric and with a lonely feel.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely an atmosphere of intrigue in this moor.
ReplyDeleteI like your take on this....Enjoyed the chilling tale which I pieced together with your last verse ~ Nice one ~
ReplyDelete3 characters...so much said in such few lines...The photo with its clear moon and your words have created something magical...I can't choose a favorite line. I love them all!
ReplyDeleteThis is as authentic as it gets - the feel of a classic cautionary tale.. eerie and filled with ancestral memories.
ReplyDeleteMoody and mysterious. It has a hypnotic rhythm to it as it is read aloud. Truly beautiful...
ReplyDeleteI kept thinking "The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" while reading this...perhaps the rhythm or the symbolism of the tale. It makes me wonder if your having more odd fever dreams. Where did you get the 'frying pan....heather grey"...a brilliant image ~
ReplyDelete