"If you love a
flower that lives on a star, it is sweet to look at the sky at night."
"It is such a secret place, the land of tears."
~Le Petit Prince,
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Exploring The Land Of Tears
The explorer woke up.
It was a fine morning for
exploring, and
he set out to do so, as that was his job,
his job and his pleasure.
As always, he looked for
baobabs,
as one must be vigilant, and
for flowers, though really,
he had too many secrets about
flowers--
but he walked for a considerable time
without finding either one,
or any trees at all, or
sheep, or small rodents.
Only the rock, without even a volcano,
and nothing at all
ephemeral.
He noticed he was growing cold and thought
'Perhaps I am on a glacier--it's very white here--
or perhaps I am on a moon.
He felt very lucky.
(He was not an Arctic Explorer, and
still less
had he had any adventures among the stars.)
He walked past nightfall, when he began
to feel a tightness in his chest, as if
a yellow snake might
have given him poison
as if air was receding,
as if the further he walked,
the further he grew from his search.
He felt clad in white stone
as reflective as the moon (or glacier)
where he ever more slowly walked, till
stopping, he saw just where he was,
knew that down his cheeks ran
the insignia of the close lost
land he feared, a place that had
made his reputation, a place
he was completely
utterly
sick of exploring.
Instead, as he froze to
his tears, he looked at the sky,
at the stars, at the one star
where there was
the one flower
who looked like a common rose
but was not.
~April 2014
posted for real toads
Word List: Le Petit Prince
For the last day of April (YES!!) grapeling (grapeling)has us writing to a wonderful word list from one of my favorite books, The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. I leafed through it just to refresh my memory a bit, and there were more quotes than I could possible include that inspired this poem--thank you so much Michael, as I can conclude the month now with a poem I feel good about.
Images : Rosa 'Pat Austin' copyright joyannjones 2012-2014
Footer: Greenland Ice Sheet, Joshua Brown/ University of Vermont via NPR Online