A Scaffold for a Mouse


Setting this up seemed mean

and was judged to be so 

for it seemed to demean


Manawydan living in a dream

landscape with the life

conjured out of it like a flat plane


They moved across, Rhiannon,

Pryderi, Cigfa and he

chasing shadows to an enchanted fountain.


Against such powerful magic: a small

gesture enacted on this scaffold

quietly, determinedly, a model


Of spell-breaking – no fires on

the astral plane but calculated

unconcern in the face of persuasion


And a firm grip on a small thing

for a great purpose:  he would 

release into the world again


a woman in an asses collar;

make the rivers flow again,

awaken form to its true nature:


Mouse to pregnant woman,

stabled horse to a mare running free,

changes real magic causes to happen.


1 comment:

Lee Morgan said...

Brilliant! I've often thought this supposedly humble episode (the mouse scaffold) upon which so much hinges, which can at first glance appear rather surreal and trivial is worthy of much greater attention. I particularly love the summation which I think carries a very profound truth and delivers it with subtlety.