Overheard on a Salt Marsh
Nymph, nymph, what are your beads?
Green glass, goblin. Why do you stare at them?
Give them me.
No.
Give them me, give them me.
No.
Then I will howl all night in the reeds,
Lie in the mud and howl for them.
Goblin, why do you love them so?
They are better than stars or water
Better than voices of winds that sing,
Better than any man's fair daughter,
Your green glass beads on a silver ring.
Hush, I stole them out of the moon.
Give me your beads, I want them.
No.
I will howl in a deep lagoon
For your green glass beads, I love them so.
Give them me. Give them.
No.
This poem isn't one of mine, it was written by a 19th century poet, Harold Munro.
For me it has a haunting quality, something that catches in the back of your subconscious but defies description.
I've often wondered what was going through his mind when he wrote it.
Green glass, goblin. Why do you stare at them?
Give them me.
No.
Give them me, give them me.
No.
Then I will howl all night in the reeds,
Lie in the mud and howl for them.
Goblin, why do you love them so?
They are better than stars or water
Better than voices of winds that sing,
Better than any man's fair daughter,
Your green glass beads on a silver ring.
Hush, I stole them out of the moon.
Give me your beads, I want them.
No.
I will howl in a deep lagoon
For your green glass beads, I love them so.
Give them me. Give them.
No.
This poem isn't one of mine, it was written by a 19th century poet, Harold Munro.
For me it has a haunting quality, something that catches in the back of your subconscious but defies description.
I've often wondered what was going through his mind when he wrote it.
posted by Kahdoosch at 10:30 AM
7 Comments:
this is sooooooooo good. I know what you mean about wondering what he was thinking as writing this. To me something eerie comes to mind.
Thank you for such nice poetry.
I love this poem it it just so full of surprises
It makes me envy the writer for his or her skills
Renee
I so agree. I love poems that make ya think. Or that take ya there.
Yeah, it reminds me of Smeagol, the pitiful half of Tolkien's, doomed schizophrene (Gollum); of unrequited love and maybe; of an impossible yearning for something one can never attain (is it not the nymph which renders the beads beautiful?). The Goblin could never display the beads as the nymph does.
But my "precious" held onto worldly goods. Such a little imp he was.
Letting go is so hard to do.
If we don't the hell we fall
into.
Smeagol was my favorite, Until he turned quite mean. Reminds me of me at times haha.
I'm not sure the 'ring' was meant to be 'worldly goods' though, I think it was a metaphor for power (and maybe wealth), the corruption and isolation that they bring.
Tolkien was well experienced in Old Norse and Celtic history/mythology. He would have been familiar with 'Fehu' meaning - cattle (signifies wealth and power). Fehu also represents gold, the 'light of the sea'. On it's downside, it was linked with family arguments (Smeagols murder of Dreagol) and self-inflicted spiritual and relational bankrupcy. It's one of the reasons that they only used gold for votive purposes.
I don't think Smeagol was corrupted by the physical ring. He was corrupted by the symbolism. The power it bestowed and the perceived wealth it brought. Being totally in it's thrall he could no longer see anything but the symbol of that power (even though he understood on a deeper level that Sauron, another representation of unbridled power, was ultimately his enemy).
A beautiful new youtube has been posted of this poem at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxn5jGXJQnM !
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