Starbound

"It was many and many a year ago,
   In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
   By the name of Annabel Lee;"
And as the clouds tossed to and fro,
   So did the aimless, fearless we.

Two perfect rings as the seagull sings,
   Forever together as long as can be,
And the tide brought things––such perfect things
   To this kingdom by the sea,
Tributes to us, for we were kings,
   Annabel Lee and me.

Four eyes on the dusk as our shadows drew
   Long against the longing we,
As the wind blew the night into
   Our kingdom by the sea,
And the crescent in our sky came to,
   We ventured we were free...

But starbound cries are naught but lies,
   And our love was not to be,
The gull's replies sink into sighs,
   Heaving as the sorrowful sea,
And as the torrent dies, the current dies,
   From my feet the spirits flee.

It's time to say my last goodbyes,
To my beautiful Annabel Lee.





Of course, based on "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allen Poe. Isn't divergence poetry fun? From dark thoughts come darker thoughts, and thus from poetry poetry. From rhyme rhyme, and from convolution convolution.

But truly: is there any real way to dispel remorse? We all cannot help but find our own answers, through our own Annabel Lees, in our own kingdoms by the sea, just as we cannot help but fear the seagull's song.

Roads Diverged

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,"
Branches apart like contours brown,
Uncaring flakes of life long stood,
An afterthought to flutter down.

Three rivers convening beneath a bough,
A gurgling debate of mouths so fast,
By their own paths alone they vow,
Resolve resounding in woods so vast.

Four roots like serpents of umber light,
Twisting in the earth-brown skies,
Diving to escape the shower's sight,
Evading each of a thousand eyes.

A stage awash in power surged,
And from every gust new lives call,
Yet what is fate but roads diverged?
For all the world is one long fall.





And here I write, once again, in the wake of a Divergence poem, (the series title even better connected in this instance) the latest of a series of poems that stem from the beginning of a famous work. Here, I decided to diverge from "The Road Not Taken," and take an even less expected turn in an effort to put a unique spin on Robert Frost's preeminent work.

On a side note (or perhaps more of a "below note," as these all seem to be), I am currently in the process of adding tags and a sidebar organizer to the blog, which will greatly help in organizing the chaos of chronological blog posts. For example, this post might be tagged "divergence" and "rhyme." You get the idea.

Where All Must End

"There is a place where the sidewalk ends,"
Where gray turns black,
Where shifting smoke fills every crack,
Where there lacks a line 'twixt the ground and sky,
Where the dirt can fly,
Where the air can sigh,
Where the warm sun rays will wave goodbye.

There is a place where heartbeats end,
Where none dare tread,
Where the light hangs dead,
Where the sound of footsteps is dulled by the dust,
Where eyes bear crust,
Where bones bear rust,
Where the wind brings death with every gust.

There is a place where colors end,
Where day is night,
Where wrong is right,
Where all the world begins to blend,
Where the skies descend,
Where the buildings bend,
Where all must come to an end.

...including the poem. (that was not a part of the poem) Anyway, this is a poetry experiment I am taking for a spin; with all the talk about endings, here's to a potential beginning.

As for the (possible) series's name, I believe something akin to "Divergence" will be appropriate. If you have not already deduced, the experimental series will consist of poetry beginning with (but likely diverging heavily from) the first line or two of a famous poem. In this case, the first line is from "Where the Sidewalk Ends," by Shel Silverstein. As Silverstein's poem is relatively short, I thought it best to take only the first line.