She observes them as if viewing gothic animation, their eyes vibrant and huge, their wings vastly outsized and their coloring excessively brazen, conversely morbid.
The deeper they head into the forest, the more animated everything appears to be. Through the miraculous organization of the imagination, thus a world full of life is born, death is nowhere.
The moon beams shine through branches leaving wicked shadows floating around them. The moon beams bright enough to light their passageway.
His acknowledgement is a tender touch in a big way and when he acknowledges her desire, she soothes his wings and she sings… “The day you stop creating desire in me will be the day you no longer acknowledge that you do this to me. Perish the thought. And what if I fell asleep in your arms but still had my sunglasses on my head, my runners on my feet and three cherries in my hand. The security of your wings quietly connives us both. Love has no ownership my darling.”
Caught between realms. He realizes his seductive seraph sees their wings as nothing more than what is normally human. She’s wedged amid bountiful kingdoms.
“I’d eat the cherries from your gentle hand, I’d lovingly kiss the soles that carry you and I’d paint the universe on your lenses and then I’d cherish a moment being so close to you to hear your soft sigh upon waking”.
Pulling her closer his chin grazes the back of her white ringlets. Cupping her body he listens as she sings again….”And what if you fell asleep at 1:15am and I called you at 1:18am after awaking in frisson, would you answer?”
Eating the cherries from her hand and leaving his thumbprint on her lenses, he unshackles the soles of her feet and replies…”only if I knew it was you”.
Letting go, he watched her fly.
Well mushy peach there is a side to u that is tender and beautiful and in tune with love. This is so tender its almost heartbreaking. The words u use are subtle and the images are romantic, though there is a sad inevitability about the piece. Have you ever looked at British Pre-Raphaelite art from the nineteenth century? Millais, Rossetti, Hloman-Hunt ect..Well this piece of writing reminds me of their work and would have inspired them I think. They based some of their work on the Arthurian legends and depicted love, romance, with an under current of erotica and mortality. There is a sadness to their work but it’s incredibly imaginative.
As I said this is a very imaginative piece. The mention of gothic animation gives it that quality, and the angles make it almost visionary. You start the piece with images of sadness, which impresses itself on the reader with the use of morbid. I suppose this and the image of gothic are supposed to give the piece a dark quality, but they highlight a sadness in the piece. You see you use words like vibrant and excessively brazen, which contradict gothic and morbid; so I take the images of the angles as being what angles are, beautiful aspects of both a spiritual plane and human characteristics. But still there’s that sad undertone.
But then we move on deeper in the forest, deeper in the imagination, deeper into metaphors. I also like the idea of walking through or deeper into a forest as a metaphor for entering our deeper subconscious level, or the spiritual plane. I once did a past life regression and this is how they took me back. And so the moon lights their way. She’s beautiful isn’t she, the moon! Always there to light our path!!
Ok I haven’t mentioned something I should, and that’s “she observes them” Humm Is she observing her own imaginative vision? Is she or is she not a part of it? I think she must be, through metaphor she is observing what is in her heart! How else could she have such a strong vision. So the next stanza is full of images of love and desire. Of course angels and wings speak of protection and security, and the acknowledgement of desire is reciprocal. The sunglasses and runners (which I believe is trainers in my native English) shows a very human side to this vision. It’s not just metaphors for the imagination, it is actual human emotions which are at play in this piece, which is important to remember, especially as its inter woven with a spiritual cosmic essence. I think this is played out in the three cherries. Yes they signify desire, but also a spiritual symbol. I agree with Sisi in the mind, body and spirit usage of this image. This is also reinforced by the title Forces of Nature and Three Cherries. Now I’m wondering about the line “connives us both.” Do you mean to plot together? Or to give assent to the doing of a wrong act? Well, it possibly means both, and followed by the line “Love as no ownership” this speaks of infidelity. Whether its physical, just in the mind, or both is implicit in this piece. In fact the poem seems to turn on this very point, as though it’s the heartbeat of the piece. I maybe wrong, but these lines certainly gives the reader this impression. Maybe it’s a forbidden love, maybe I’m putting too much emphasis on three cherries, but three?
Ok, maybe I’ve over analysed it again. Once I start I seem to check under each image, each word to find if something’s hidden under there. I might wait for your comment on this peachy before I analyse the second part of this. Wonderful piece of writing tho!
Posted: Jun 2, 2008
Ah, I see there's been a great deciphering party going on! Of course, the very beauty of writing metaphorical work is that the readers can interpret the story in a way that means something to them, to each and every one of them individually.
What it looked like to me was that even though both of them was angels, they belonged to different worlds. In fact, she appeared to me to be banished to earth for some reason, retaining her winged form but with diminished powers. She reminded me of Floyd's "...tongue-tied, twisting, twisted, earth-bound misfit, I".
The sunglasses represented her inability to perceive the complete light - she was allowed to see just the light of this world; the need for runners the fact that she was earth-bound; and the cherries meaning that she still required nourishment in the form of food - all characteristics of being human. That is why she was so afraid of falling asleep in his arms with all those things still on her - because she would get his love but not as a free being. And that is why she was drawn to his wings to provide security - while on earth love needs a name, but in that other world, love has no ownership - it just is.
He, on the other hand, not being banished, has already achieved a higher level of 'angelism' (I know there is no such word!). For him, wings are just a part of his form, and he has already achieved the power of flight by the lightness of his spirit. That is why, when he realizes that she 'sees their wings as nothing more than what is normally human', he is 'caught between realms'.
But since he loves her so, he is willing to weigh his spirit down with tasting the things material - eating cherries from her hand and so on. But he knows that it can only be momentary.
He manages to make the contact between the two worlds by taking (eating the cherries from her hand) and giving (leaving his thumbprints on her lenses). This gives him the power to unshackle her feet, and letting her fly. I'd like to think that this was necessary for their love to be lingering (possibly eternal? eternal love sounds a bit too mushy to me, so I'd stick to lingering!) and unrestricted.
Of course, all this was taking place in her imagination, with the forest signifying her subconscious. That is why, the deeper they go, things become vivid and more animated.
Posted: Jun 10, 2008
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