Redamancy Lament

emotions are coursing over gnarled Travertine rocks surreal tears are my broken dream’s shards scattered on a barren soil as my beloved rests in eternal sleep I opine the lizard should have waited with his message cursed be the chameleon may his slumbers forever be haunted   my tears aren’t for those who have broken my heart forgiveness was not easy you had told your young mistress while proclaiming your undying love for her she has never owned my heart   sitting alone on a bench your departure was a wrench dusk often finds me in a reflective mood you have all my love my heart still belongs to you* as a lark proclaims the new dawn and where I can now relish a languid afternoon I no longer flinch at your dear memory I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief this is the sacred truth everyone should know death wouldn’t be victorious though lovers be lost love shan't death shall have no dominion as I mourn redamancy† is not a prerequisite I carry your heart I carry it in my heart INSPIRED BY THE FOLLOWING POEMS: The Peace of Wild Things, by Wendel Berry And death shall have no dominion, by Dylan Thomas ‘i carry your heart with me (i carry it in’, e.e. cummings 1952 POET'S NOTES *An example of a chiasmus phrase. †redamancy is the act of loving in return; reciprocity at its finest. I used the 7 stages of mourning in the progression of the poem. ‘Love goes very far beyond the physical person of the beloved. It finds its deepest meaning in the spiritual being, his inner self. Whether or not he is still actually present, whether or not he is still alive at all, ceases somehow to be of importance.’ ~Viktor Frankl (1905–1997), Austrian psychiatrist, philosopher, writer, and Holocaust survivor—from his book, Man’s Search for Meaning. MYTHOLOGY According to an African myth, the Old, Old [sic] One instructed the chameleon to go and tell Man that he would be immortal, but en route he fell asleep. Later, the Old, Old One changed his mind and called on the lizard to go and tell Man that he would die. The lizard overtook the chameleon and delivered his message first. From that day forward it was Man’s destiny to die. Both the lizard and the chameleon are hated by the African people: the first for bringing the bad tidings, and the second for being tardy in delivering his message.