Painting on Papyrus
The blue feathered ibis is a symbol of immortality; the crescent-shaped lotus flowers, symbols of immortality; even the goggle-eyed asp who sheds his skin, symbol of immortality.
Surely the redskinned priest or honeybrown priestess striding in silhouette know this; And the painted hieroglyphs— owl, vulture, eye of Horus— make it clear. The only ones who do not seem to understand are a long-tailed civet cat beautifully striped, caught in the act of bagging a bluebilled goose with red head and downy yellow belly, beautifully dying.
Le Loi I cross the red bridge over the sleeping waters of the Lake of the Returned Sword Here Le Loi went fishing and reeled in a magic sword With it he drove the Ming out of Viet land and beheaded their general; he said: “better to win people’s hearts than break down castle walls” The red bridge “soaks up sunlight” and leads to the Moonlit tower. After the war Le Loi went fishing-- a giant turtle of pure gold surfaced-- an immortal, it’s said, who seized the sword and dove back into the green depths where it remains to this day in the shadow of the red bridge and the moonlit tower.
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Luke Powers teaches English and Folklore at Tennessee State University, an historically black university in Nashville, TN. He moonlights as a songwriter and has recorded with Garth Hudson of The Band and Richard Lloyd of Television.
Categories: S&R Literature, S&R Poetry, WordsDay