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Poetry Magnum Opus

In Fading Light


Frank E Gibbard

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Frank E Gibbard

In fading light of an African veldt,

An ageing lion with a fraying pelt

Stands stolidly in the grassy plain

Once mighty powers on their wane;

Old weak bones now wont to creak

In a body no longer swift or sleek.

Bereft of pride he still looks proud

Mane held high and head unbowed.

He roared around the coppering sky

But the firmament proffered no reply.

Turning undaunted he trotted back

Along a darkening and rutted track,

To an empty den and his lonely bed

Where a tired king could rest a head.

 

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goldenlangur

Hello Frank,

 

How vividly you portray this King of the beasts in his waning days! A sense of not only physical frailty but also a keen sense of loneliness comes across in your poem. I like these details in your use of images and language:

 

"fraying pelt, coppering sky, darkening and rutted track" and also how you use 'firmament" to suggest not just the earth/ground but also the grasp on life.

 

 

Thank you for a good read.

 

goldenlangur

goldenlangur

 

 

Even a single enemy is too many and a thousand friends too few - Bhutanese saying.

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I, too, like the expressions Golden pointed out, particularly coppering sky. I also like your use of the word stolidly. The last couplet is especially melancholic.

 

Tony

Here is a link to an index of my works on this site: tonyv's Member Archive topic

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Frank E Gibbard

Finally fader we meet at PMO at last I made it friend. Glad you like the final version of the poor old lion, he has been pulled hither and thither through various choppings and changings workshopped to a frazzle - I am happy with this in the end. See you here and there fader. Frank

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