Safe sleeping under soil and under seas
Unmoved for millions of millennia
The one-time rulers of the ancient earth
Are summoned now to show their ghastly shades.
By compact dire, their labours are enslaved
And, resurrected by the wit of man
From caverns deep, by pick and drill released
Their forces bend to the alchemist’s sway
Perhaps to ease the cold of winter’s night
To lift great weights or fly across the world
Or gird the globe with artificial thought
The power of a million years of suns
Is conjured up. The spirits of the past
Of plants and trees, plankton and amoeba
Of ancient fish and mighty dinosaur
Transform into the world we live each day
Undead from the grave, orcs from Isengard
Foot by carbon footprint with steady tread
All tireless drive today’s Satanic mills.
They toil at our behest until at last
Gaining once more their freedom in the air
They rise in reeks and fumes back to the sun
For nothing comes from nothing and the price
Agreed, as Faustus found, goes hard to pay.
Author notes
Wrote this a while ago but it was entered for a contest elsewhere so I couldn't post. I haven't been on here much lately as I'm occupied elsewhere. If you're interested, take a look at http://the-tractor.blogspot.com
Fossil fuels - what happens when we run out of dinosaurs?
Comments
1 - 13 of 13
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Archeology is one of my favorite subjects to study. It's sad that it's a form of studying history that is hard to justify, seeing as often it can destroy what it is trying to uncover. I would never be able to translate that into a poem.The way you have is amazing to me - well done! I'm very impressed by this piece. I love that it was both engaging and descriptive. Thank you for writing this!
edit::
seeing your tagline at the bottom, I realize I misinterpreted this a bit. Either way, I enjoyed the poem and your point is valid and distressing in both lights.
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Absolutely love the last two lines! They really bring home the message you are trying to get across, although I don't think there will be a saving angel at the end of this story.
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This must have been such a dificult topic to right about, and is very thought provoking. Your imagery is amazing and I encourage you to keep writing. If I were you, I would just keep in mind that punctuation can do so much to a poem, as the read of the poem is completely controlled, molded into what you pictured.
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this certainly gives the reader much to think about. thank you for sharing this with me today and i am looking forward to reading more from you in the near future. hope the other contest went well for you. viyanna rosemarie
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What a wonderful poem about a difficult subject. "Foot by carbon footprint", "gird the globe", so many good phrases. Great!
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What indeed?
Dark and full of foreboding. Last four lines are so good. They get their revenge don't they? Have my highest three..... x debs
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I didn't click..
...on this, my laptop did, and being numero uno freeversehater on this site, I cannot bare even to read the stuff, so can't comment (I'd only offend anyway!)
So, please accept 3 bananas as part-recompense for wasting yr pts.
R.
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got an independent laptop then - yours is very omnipotent and scary - but has good taste!! Try free verse - think out of the box and live a little. xx chills
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Would rather stick red hot pokers in my eyes Warmth.
That which is written "out of the box" as you put is not only as easy as pie, it's so easy that it's not worth the effort in trying.
A chimpanzee could do it - and many do ; they're on this site!
R
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postscript
I discovered that about 20% of what I have up here rhymes:
http://allpoetry.com/list/63619-Rhyming -
Bad poetry is always easy
Strangely I find it harder to write good free verse than I do to write (what I think is) good rhymed poems. I do agree with you, though, that writing bad free verse is a piece of cake. Taking on free verse is something we do at our peril. At least when it rhymes you know it does that, even if nothing else about it works.
I would be interested in what you thought of this one as I was actually quite pleased with it and there is quite a bit of structure in it - even though it doesn't in fact rhyme.
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I really liked the first two stanzas of this the most. They are very strong in imagery and meaning. I liked how you gave such weight to calling on the 'ghost of our past' as it is. I was thinking of just dinosaurs but I realized you were talking about all living things from the past. Yeah you're right though. We really reap what we sow. Sad but true.
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A touch of the H.P. Lovecrafts here, I think.
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