I have not seen a mulberry tree,
only the words that spoke to me.
Now I romance its boughs and shade,
where butterflies in beauty wade.
Beneath the hush of ancient skies,
the mulberry tree in silence sighs,
its roots like veins through earthen skin,
where time and memory begin.
A thousand hands have plucked its fruit,
a crimson stain, a whispered truth—
love once lost, love now found,
a tale in berries, dark and round.
Once, Pyramus and Thisbe fled,
where white mulberries blushed to red,
their love, a river, deep and wide,
a vow that even death defied.
And in its boughs, a silken thread,
where caterpillars weave the dead,
cocoons like prayers in golden light,
waiting to dance with borrowed flight.
From hushed decay, the wings emerge,
a breath reborn, a fleeting surge,
butterflies like spirits glide,
ghosts of silk and time untied.
Categories:
pyramus, tree,
Form: Rhyme
Newlyweds Theseus and Hyppolyta are about to see
a short play based on Pyramus and Thisbe.
Performed by the Rude Tradesmen, it is a tragedy.
The actors are Peter Quince, Nick Bottom, and company.
However, their performance reeks with mediocrity.
All the fairies enter Duke Theseus's palace that night
and put their blessings on all and everyone in sight.
Based on the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare
Categories:
pyramus, fairy, literature, wedding,
Form: Rhyme
Now Adam and his beauteous Eve
A love like ours could not conceive
And Cleo and her Anthony
Could not compare to you and me
Sweet Juliette and Romeo,
our kind of love could never know
Brave Lancelot and Guinevere
Our strength of our love would surely fear
Napoleon and Josephine
of love were not the king and queen
Harsh Rochester and gentle Eyre
To love like we do would not dare
See Pyramus and his Thisbe
They died for love, but you and me
We live for love, and truth be told
Our love is ever new, not old
The tales of lovers, one by one
When matched with ours become undone
One day our names in verse will live
No greater love could cupid give
You are the symbol of true love
The kind that’s fashioned up above
I am your lover, muse, and guide
Within love’s castle we abide
The two of us can show this world
What love can do once it’s unfurled
We are the best of lovers, we
will shine in hallowed history
the legend of all legends, see
is sweetest tale of you and me
Categories:
pyramus, love, relationship,
Form: Couplet
Anna Pearl Longman
1900-1916
Dewey Hicks truly loved me.
Loved me as Mark loved Cleo,
Loved me as Pyramus loved Thisbe.
We took many a determined stroll,
With hands entangled delightedly,
Down the cool expectant streets,
Of this quiet Quaker town,
Across the strident fields at noon time,
Seeking a shady spot under the sun.
Happily we found one,
In the still sullen afternoon,
Of my final day on earth,
Way over by the Strong Ranch,
Hidden by the stately pampas plumes,
The ripe strawberry field of the Needham family;
Dewey and me settled in silence that day,
Me feeding him there,
His blond crown upon my brown carriage,
One moist sweet strawberry at a time,
No doubt, our finest moment as lovers.
But then, as with all things in life,
Written and unwritten,
It ended as my heart stopped,
Stopped as a clock unwound in time,
There in the still summer heat,
Of this quiet Quaker town.
Categories:
pyramus, love,
Form: Epitaph
A Pyramus and Thisbe Tale
There once was a mulberry tree with berries white,
Where two star-crossed lovers would meet covered by night.
Each day through a hole in the wall, they'd share their plight.
In spite of fam'lies' objections, they felt it right
And held a love between them, stronger than their might.
One night, they chose to meet, beneath the full moon, bright...
Sweet maid, by the tree, heard a lion roar! In fright
She ran...losing her veil...the lion tore in flight.
Arriving late, he spied her veil and cried,"No! Spite!"
His love was lost...so with his sword, his chest, did smite.
The maid returned...fell on his sword cried, "Death unite!"
Blood splashed the tree. Those berries now are red...when ripe.
1.16.2017©deborah burch
Form: mono-rhyme (12-lines/12-syllables)
Theme: based on Greek Tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe
(Edited 1/29/17)
Categories:
pyramus, allegory, love, myth,
Form: Monorhyme
Pyramus and Thisbe were lovers, but their parents forbade it. They had to converse by signs
and glances. They discovered a crack in the wall between their two houses. It afforded a
passage to the voice and they exchanged tender messages. *
(tetrameter)
I doubt this changed spot the same
Where once our sweet white mulberry grew
I doubt the fields can feel the sun
Nor taste the early morning dew
The wall between is thick and fast
My ears seem deaf and young love past
Yet lips must say that if a crack
There be let loving words abound
That as no touch or glance exists
My soul might revel in a sound
*Bullfinch Mythology
Categories:
pyramus, devotion, love
Form: Quatern