“Captain Ahab stood upon his quarter-deck. There seemed no sign of common bodily illness about him, nor of the recovery from any. He looked like a man cut away from the stake, when the fire has over-runningly wasted all the limbs without consuming them…you saw a slender rod-like mark, lividly whitish, like a lightening strike in a tree.” — Moby Dick
No thing in the flesh
burns more searingly
than this hatred.
It is a hotter fire,
a pain more cutting,
a sorrow more eviscerating–
this diamond pure
rancor and loathing.
And yet –and yet–
it can bring a Fletcher Christian
and his crew out of the maw
o Pitcairn island.
It seems nothing good
in this world
comes without alloy.
this one sticks in my mind. have never thought much about why I like particular poems, a personal aesthetics. the deliberate use of sources appeals here, as well as the use of language and theme.
Thanks. I love using references where appropriate. Kind of like grafting.
Good piece of work, thank you for posting it.
You bet. Glad you liked it.