Chernobog and Belobog
Used With Permission
There was nothing before wings
but empty sky and solemn earth.
Unity grew from light and dark
until life feathered its way into being.
All was well until humans sprang
from dust to claim color.
In the senseless swagger tongue
of dominion the gift of Gods
became the battlefield of religions.
Ah humans. There is nothing so beautiful and pure that we can't eff up, and that includes the blessings of gods.
ReplyDeleteNature, in her dark and bright, is perfect. It takes a very strong--and, many times, rotten--will to shroud that perfection with dogma. Your last stanza made me sigh.
ReplyDeleteBorn from feathers makes me think it could be birds or angels in this poem – or something in between. These lines struck me as they are so beautiful, Susie:
ReplyDelete‘Unity grew from light and dark
until life feathered its way into being’.
Reading about wings and feathers reminded me of two books that made an impression on me: Mr Pye by Mervin Peake, in which a man trying to be very good sprouts angel wings and then has to work hard at being bad to lose them – with consequences; and the children’s author David Almond's fabulous novel Skellig, in which a boy finds an angel in the garage.
This is gorgeously rendered, Susie!💖 Especially love: "Unity grew from light and dark until life feathered its way into being."😊
ReplyDeleteI most love the line Sanaa quoted.
ReplyDeleteThis has taken my breath away, Susie. You are a master of brevity, and yet speak so much detail into every line.This is a remarkable piece of writing. i love the intro, as creation myth and the ay you tied it into earthbound religion at the end.
ReplyDelete... the way you tied... Sorry. I was typing too fast in my excitement.
DeleteInteresting, the notion that humans claimed color. Because of course we did!
ReplyDeleteThe depravation of humanity of claiming everything... as if colors wasn't there before we gave it names.
ReplyDeleteOh the truth in this one. Nothing on earth is safe from us.
ReplyDelete