The Peacock's Eye
Rent from DeepDyve- The Peacock's Eye
found poem
The dark notesrose everywhere,so sombre, they brokeinto a fountain of light,a rainbow sparklingfrom invisible sources,as the savannah grew lonely,when the sea broke againinto a wave—through the forest,tall trees carrying blackmarching boots withfeet clad in spurs, andsharp wings of a butterflyflew and vanishedinto the sky—a sound so terrible,and wonderful—it was sorrowful,and mystical too,speaking with the innerlonging of a woman,or the deep mysteryof a man, frailand nervous,and yet strong,now grounded,as I listened . . .what I understood [End Page 158] that no living earon earth cantruly understand—the fortune of love,or the art of victoryover death withoutmixing blind joyor sadness . . .the sense of beinglost with the hopeof being found,once again ______ [End Page 159]
Cyril Dabydeen, a former poet laureate of Ottawa, has published poetry in more than sixty literary journals, including the Critical Quarterly, and in the Heinemann, Oxford, and Penguin books of Caribbean verse. He has written twenty books of poetry and fiction, including Short Stories of Cyril Dabydeen (Caribbean P/University of Warwick), and he recently edited Beyond Sangre Grande: Caribbean Writing Today (TSAR).
