Foretelling

3 Replies to “Foretelling”

1. ‘how many times
   the heart would bend to the swallowtail’s
   random dance’

   Oh my!

   Reply

2. The arm and thread from the original seems to translate readily to palm and lines, but the use you made of the swallowtail really surprised me!

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3. I hold my hand over my heart/ because I know it knows no rest:/ it does not want to mourn what/ passes from this life, just yet.—From “Trauermantel” by Luisa A. Igloria, Via Negativa, 05-28-11

   Any day now a god /might unfurl its wings to rend the canopy;/any day now, that radiant and elusive life.—From “Foretelling” by Luisa A. Igloria, Via Negativa, 05-29-11

   NOBLESSE OBLIGE

   It alights on the most unlikely places
   when it is ready to unload its augury:
   a herald that answers to no postmaster.

   Did it touch your face before perching
   on your head preening like a silken bow?
   Fear not, but beware its noblesse oblige:

   Whom the gods want to destroy, they
   first caress, a beau geste for its fondest,
   most innocent, most willing sacrifice.

   Like the heart that knows no rest,
   the mourning papillon flits from leaf
   to welcoming petals ready with nectar.

   Though it comes bearing sweetness
   for its bounden message, it drops its
   wings to let the doleful colour show

   and flies out of reach and rancour, out
   now into the cusp of wind and fire, out
   of grace, out into the world of Tiresias

   blinded but must prophesy what passes
   from this life, all loves and lovers, gone
   but never let loose, ever, not now, not yet.

   For any day now, the heart that bent
   to the swallowtail’s random dance,
   would find its elusive life full of radiance.

   —Albert B. Casuga
   05-30-31

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