Transition

by David Blalock

In somber reverence the Unicorn walks
As once again the Universe talks
And his hooves click mournfully
On the cobblestone way.

On the day of its borning
It foresaw this same morning
And lived a life haunted
By precognitive gift.

Where once fine wings sprouted
Now nothing remains.

This, then, is the death
The Unicorn had feared;
To be clipped of his flight
And reduced by the blight
Of mundane destined life
Of the underworld
Of men.

Yet knowledge and faith come not yet to the beast;
Only mem'ries of revel and high holy feast
Of existence beyond this,
This ignorance of freedom.
True, wings can be evil,
So they're denied to the fetal.
Yet they retain a fascination
For those who're adept.

The initiate must face dying
Before he can live.

So, facing despair,
It refuses, tempted,
And reverently muses
How from self are life's uses
Or from those judges who
Are the overworld
Of gods.

Author's Note:
I have written a series of poems around the Arabic image of the unicorn: winged and black. It represents the baser instincts in man in a way that is not conveyed by the more western unicorn. Although westerners allow that the nature of the beast can only be tamed by the innocence of a virgin, they do not address the why of that assertion. I have tried to capture that reason in these poems.

E-mail:jrlthran@memphisonline.com